Late Runs Carry Panthers Over Tritons



Trent Masih - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography

The Florida Tech Panthers opened their final baseball series of the season Friday, with a 5-3 win over the Eckerd Tritons in St. Petersburg. Trent Masih drove in two runs, with an RBI bunt single in the fifth and a solo home run leading off the ninth inning.

Reid Neal led the Panthers with a 3-for-4 showing, scoring twice and driving in a run. Dan Szpik, and Ryan Sinzenich joined Masih with two hits. 

The Tritons got the scoring started when Tom Buonopane home run in the bottom of the third, against Florida Tech starter Ty Cohen. Neal answered in the top of the fourth with a solo homer, leading off the frame, against Eckerd starter Dillon McCollough.

Eckerd (19-29, 8-14 SSC) regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth. After the first two batters reached on singles, Justin Glover drilled a two-run double, giving the home team a 3-1 lead.

Florida Tech (29-19, 13-9 SSC) tied things up again in the fifth. David Wilson started the inning with a double and went to third on an errant pickoff attempt after Vincenzo Catanza struck out. That error would be key, because Masih dropped down a bunt toward first and Wilson scampered home with the Panthers second run.

After Masih went to second on a wild pitch, he came home on a single by Grant McKown and the game was tied at three.

Cohen was relieved by Colin Cristello to start the sixth inning. Cohen pitched five innings, giving up three earned runs on nine hits. He walked one and struck out one, throwing 73 pitches in the process.
Cristello got a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth and followed that up by striking out the side in the seventh, getting all three hitters swinging.

The Tritons went to the bullpen in the eighth, bringing in Jared Salisbury. Reid Neal singled to start the inning and Salisbury hit John Sternagel with a pitch, before Jack Mahan came on to pitch. He uncorked a wild pitch, allowing the runners to move up. One out later, Mahan walked Nick Capra to load the bases and another wild pitch, allowing Neal to score the Panthers fourth run.

Florida Tech closer Drew Beyer came on to pitch the bottom of the eighth. He hit a batter in the inning, but kept the Tritons off the board, before getting an insurance run in the ninth on the Masih home run.

Eckerd got another runner on in the ninth, but Beyer ended the game by striking out the final two batters.

For more info: Florida Tech @ Eckerd Box Score

The Panthers will wrap up their season on Saturday, with a doubleheader against the Tritons. Game one is scheduled for a noon start, due to impending weather. It was originally scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch.

 


This blog is an extension of our website - Sportslowdown.com
Follow us on Twitter @sports_lowdown

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hanhold Earns First win, Shuts Out Daytona

Image
The Brevard County Manatees picked up their 10 th win of the season on Thursday, taking the final game of a four game series against the homestanding Daytona Tortugas by the score of 2-0 at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. The team win is obviously a good thing for the Manatees, but even more special was the fact that Manatees’ starter Eric Hanhold earned his first professional win, in his 18 th game. 15 of those games were as a starter. Hanhold went 0-1 in rookie ball last season and 0-4 at low-A Wisconsin. He came into Tuesday’s game, having lost four straight with the Manatees. That 0-4 record was a bit misleading, as Hanhold has pitched well for Brevard County overall, but ran into some tough luck. He changed all that on Thursday, holding the Tortugas to four hits in five innings of scoreless baseball. Not an easy feat, considering the Tortugas pounded out 14 hits and scored nine runs just 24 hours earlier. Brevard County (10-23) gave Hanhold the only run he would need
Read more

Panthers Snake-Bitten by Turnovers at UWA

Image
The Florida Tech Panthers and West Alabama Tigers put on an offensive show in their Gulf South Conference meeting on Saturday, with the Tigers coming out on top, 45-35. With the loss, the Panthers will likely have to win all three of their remaining games, to make the playoffs. In our conversation with Panthers head coach Steve Englehart on Thursday, he was adamant that if the Panthers won the turnover battle , they would win the game. Unfortunately, the visitors lost four of their five fumbles, including one on the final play of the third quarter that resulted in a scoop and score for West Alabama. This was an 0ld-fashioned shootout from the start, with the teams combining for 1,147 yards of total offense. The Panthers had 643 yards, setting a school record and Quarterback Mark Cato passed for 502 yards, also a school record. On just about any other day, those numbers would translate into a win, but on this day, the turnovers kept that from happening. “You’re not goi
Read more

FIT Women’s Soccer Falls 3-2 at Tampa

Image
The Florida Tech Women’s Soccer team dropped their final conference match of the season on Saturday night, as they were beaten by the Tampa Spartans 3-2, at Pepin Stadium. The Spartans only took three shots in the first half, but one of them found the back of the net, when Nastasia Asgedom took a crossing pass from Gabby Scirica in the box and rifled it by Panthers goaltender Karlyn Prisco , giving the home squad a 1-0 lead. It took just 2:45 for the Panthers to get the equalizer when Senior Aubri Williamson beat Spartans keeper Caroline Frykgard. Those were the only goals scored by either team in the first 45 minutes and the teams went to the locker room tied 1-1. Tampa (6-7-2) dented the scoreboard again 10:54 into the second half when Sarah Raymond found Ali Robinson with a crossing pass and Robinson headed it past Prisco, giving Tampa their second lead of the contest, 2-1. The Panthers (9-5, 4-5 SSC) even things up again in the 76 th minute when Lauren Bolhuis
Read more