ST. PETERSBURG -- The Eckerd Tritons baseball team scored eight runs in the sixth inning on Tuesday to pull away for a 12-4 win over the visiting Purdue Northwest Pride.
It was a pitcher's duel for the first half of the game, with the two teams combining for just three runs and six total hits through the first five innings of action.
Joey Bazydlo was responsible for the game's first run in the bottom of the second, sending a sac fly to the outfield to give Eckerd its first lead. Purdue Northwest answered with a run in the top of the fourth, but the Tritons quickly earned it right back in the bottom half with another Bazydlo RBI. Eckerd took a 2-1 lead into the sixth after both teams went scoreless in the fifth.
A total of 11 Tritons came to the plate in the sixth, with the scoring surge beginning with
Anthony Lino's RBI single.
Corey Hodierne drove in a run with a batted ball that resulted in an error, followed by a bases-loaded walk issued to
Kam Gelwick two batters later to make it a 5-1 cushion.
Christian Cabina and
Luis Garrido each drove in runs to continue the inning before
Dawson Jones tripled in his second at-bat of the inning to bring home the final two.
Jones picked up another RBI in the eighth and Lino delivered a run-scoring single to offset a pair of runs from the Pride in the seventh.
JD Hay earned the win on the mound, going six innings and striking out four with just one unearned run allowed. Offensively, Jones finished a home run away from the cycle and was 4-for-4 at the plate with three runs driven in. Lino also added a three-hit effort.
Game two of the series will take place tomorrow at 1 p.m.
