ST. PETERSBURG -- The Eckerd Tritons baseball team secured a series-opening win on Friday, defeating the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish by a score of 14-5.
After a two-and-a-half-hour weather delay, the Tritons were the first to get on the board with a run in their opening at-bat. After loading the bases, a run scored on a double play to give the team a 1-0 lead. The Sailfish answered with a tally in the top half of the second, but the Tritons quickly went back out in front with an RBI groundout from
Joey Bazydlo. Eckerd led 2-1 after two innings of action.
The Tritons broke the game open with 11 total runs across the next three innings. An RBI double from
Kam Gelwick started a three-run third that was capped off by
Christian Cabina's two-run home run. In the fourth,
Corey Hodierne drove in a run with a fielder's choice and later came in to score after a balk by PBA.
Hunter Rebhan delivered an RBI single to close out another three-run frame.
Eckerd poured it on with five more in the fifth, seeing back-to-back two-run doubles come off the bats of Hodierne and Rebhan. Cabina tallied his third RBI of the contest with a groundout that brought in the team's 13th run, while
Cole Schumaker accounted for the final tally driven in with a bases-loaded walk in the sixth.Â
Starter
Nathan Norwood went eight strong innings for the Tritons to earn the win, striking out nine.
Games two and three will take place tomorrow.
