MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Eckerd Tritons baseball team won twice on Saturday to take the weekend series over the Florida Tech Panthers, winning game one by a score of 8-0 before securing the finale by a score of 13-8.
In game one, the Tritons belted 15 hits on their way to a shutout win.
Gabe Campos was responsible for the first run driven in with his RBI single in the first inning, giving Eckerd a 1-0 lead that remained intact through three innings of play.
Corey Hodierne's run-scoring single in the fourth doubled the advantage and made it a 2-0 contest entering the fifth.
The Tritons pulled away with a three-spot in the fifth, beginning with
Kam Gelwick's solo home run, the first of two in the game.
Ean Gimson pushed the advantage out to four with an RBI infield single before
Jake Ambrosio's sac fly extended the cushion out to a 5-0 lead.
Hunter Rebhan and
Joey Bazydlo both drove in runs in the sixth, and Gelwick launched his second homer in the eighth to bring the score to its 8-0 final.
Starting pitcher
Tyler Brashear went eight scoreless innings on the mound, striking out eight and allowing just six hits.
In game two, each of the first five innings saw at least one run scored, beginning with the Panthers' pair of tallies in their opening at-bat. A sac fly by
Dylan Escobar inched the Tritons within a run in the second, but the home team answered with three more in the bottom half to stretch the margin out to four at a 5-1 score.
Eckerd earned all three of those back in the third, starting with an RBI fielder's choice from Rebhan. Bazydlo punched a single through the left side for the next score, followed by Gimson's double to bring in Bazydlo. Florida Tech added one more run in the fourth to take a 6-4 advantage into the fifth.
The Tritons loaded the bases to start the fifth after three straight singles. A walk to Gimson sent home the first run of the frame for Eckerd, and Escobar's single two batters later evened the game at six runs apiece. The Tritons then broke the game open with six in the seventh to double up the Panthers at a score of 12-6. Eckerd did not register a hit in the inning and benefited from six walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch, and an error to help fuel the rally. Rebhan added one more RBI to his total with a single in the ninth to give the team its 13th tally.
Bazydlo led the offense with three hits, while
Max Folkman earned the win on the mound after finishing out the final four innings.
Eckerd will open a series next weekend at home vs. No. 16 Rollins.
