Sports Lowdown

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...

Reid Neal - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography Reid Neal broke a 4-4 seventh inning tie with a two-run home run Friday night, sending the Florida Tech Panthers to a 7-4 win over Sunshine State Conference foe, Saint Leo. It was the seventh long ball of the season for Neal. Florida Tech (24-15, 8-5 SSC) took an early lead with three runs in the top of the second, against Lions’ starter Tyler Bauman. Dan Szpik singled and after Nick Capra walked, David Wilson singled Szpik home, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third and Bauman proceeded to walk Ryan Sinzenich and Vincenzo Catanza , giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead. Trent Masih hit into a double play, allowing the third run to score. The Panthers added a run in the third, when John Sternagel walked stole second and later got caught between third and home, before scoring on an errant throw. That made it 4-0. T y Cohen , who got the start for the Panthers stayed out o...

Nick Capra - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography After helping the Panthers come from behind in game one with his walk-off single, Ryan Sinzenich put together a 3-for-5, for RBI performance in game two, leading the Panthers to a 9-3 victory over Lynn on Saturday. Nick Capra was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Both teams had 12 hits in the contest, but the Panthers were the more productive bunch, scoring eight earned runs. Florida Tech starter Andy Marzheuser was the beneficiary, as he improved to 5-1. He went five innings, allowing just one run on six hits. He walked one and struck out five. The Florida Tech offense got started early, scoring twice in the second inning against Fighting Knights starter Michael Imperato. Capra walked and went to third one out later, on a passed ball. He scored on a ground out by Sinzenich. After Kevin Capella singled back to the mound, Zac Orchard doubled him home. Capra got the fourth inning off to a good start wi...

John Sternagel went 2-for-5 with 4 RBI's Friday night -  Photo credit: James Ragan Photography John Sternagel propelled the Florida Tech Panthers to an 8-5 come-from behind win over Lynn Friday night, in a Sunshine State Conference baseball showdown. Sternagel hit two-run home runs in the seventh and eighth inning, helping FIT secure their first conference win of the season. Nick Capra also contributed in a big way, with three hits and three RBIs. I think we got a gritty club,” said Sternagel. “It would’ve been easy down 5-1, to say maybe we’ll just come back at it tomorrow, but instead, we just kept fighting and kept grinding and ended up with a W.” Things did not start well for the Panthers, who left the bases loaded in the second inning and were down 2-0 in the third when Panthers starter Ty Cohen gave up a two-run home run off the bat of Miguel Ceballos. The Panthers did get a run back in the bottom of the inning, when Daniel Szpik doubled and came home on...

Reid Neal - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Southern Moccasins put Florida Tech behind the eight ball in Sunshine State Conference play, sweeping the three-game weekend series, highlighted by a doubleheader sweep on Saturday, at Andy Seminick-Les Hall Field. Following their 3-0 win on Friday in the series opener , the Mocs took game one on Saturday, 3-2 and won a high-scoring game two, 12-8. Tyler Deel got the start for Florida Tech in game one and pitched well for six innings, despite giving up a leadoff home run to Cody Burgess to start the proceedings. That run held until the bottom of the fourth, when Dan Szpik and Ryan Sinzenich started the frame with back-to-back singles against Florida Southern starter Jake Walsh, Nick Capra reached on fielder’s choice, loading the bases. James Gronberg then grounded out to first, getting the run home and tying the game. Florida Tech got their first lead of the night in the bottom of the fifth. The...

Reid Neal - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography A three-run home run by Quincy’s Jake Walters in the top of the ninth inning was the difference Saturday, as the Florida Tech Panthers lost their second game of the weekend 8-5, to the Quincy Hawks. The decisive long ball was the second of the day for Walters, who also hit one in the second inning. Florida Tech’s Reid Neal matched him with home runs in the bottom of the first and bottom of the ninth. It was a back-and-forth affair for much of the day, with the teams combining for 19 hits, but in the end, the Panthers suffered their second loss of the weekend, at Bob Stein Stadium in Dahlonega, GA. Quincy struck first against Florida Tech starter Tyler Deel .  Jack Klages doubled leading off the game and later scored on an error. The Panthers answered immediately in the bottom of the inning. John Sternagel drew a walk to lead off the inning and Reid Neal took Quincy starter Mark Niebrugge, deep and out, giving the...

The Florida Tech baseball team took game one of a doubleheader on Saturday, beating Lincoln Memorial 6-4 behind the three hit, three RBI day of Reid Neal . Neal tied the game in the third with a 2-run single and gave the Panthers the lead in the fifth, with an RBI single. That gave the Panthers a lead they would never relinquish. Panthers starting pitcher Tyler Deel got off to a bit of a shaky start, giving up two runs in the top of the first, but he rebounded nicely to pick up his second win of the season. After dropping game one of the series on Friday 7-2, the Railsplitters were looking to get things started on the right foot Saturday and they did that, scoring twice in the top of the first. Nate Stinson led off with a single and after Tyler Adams walked, both runners moved up on a passed ball. Logan Augustine’s sac fly brought one home and Mason Ewers double, made it 2-0. Deel got the next two outs, avoiding further trouble. LMU starter Brandon Jean pitched w...

The Florida Tech Panthers won their opening baseball game of the season on Friday, 6-4 over the Mississippi College Choctaws, 6-4. It did not come easy, as Florida Tech had to score four runs in their last at bat, to erase a two-run deficit. The Panthers (1-0) had eight hits on the day, with John Sternagel , Grant McKown and Ryan Sinzenich doing the bulk of the damage, with two each. Sinzenich led the Panthers with three RBIs. The seven-inning game was scoreless for the first three innings, before Sternagel took Tommy Taborda deep over the left-center field wall on an 0-1 count, to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. FIT added a run in the sixth with McKown doubling down the left field line with one out. Two batters later, Sinzenich brought him home with a single, giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead. Panthers starting pitcher Ty Cohen was pitching well through the first five frames, but the Choctaws finally got to him in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Cohen gave up ba...