Sports Lowdown

Trent Chmelik - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Panthers scored 28 points in the second half on Saturday, coming away with a 35-0 win over the Mississippi College Choctaws at Robinson-Hale Stadium. With the victory, the Panthers improve to 3-1 on the season, including 2-0 in the Gulf South Conference.   This was the second straight game that the Panthers defense did not allow a touchdown and the second shutout of the season overall, following the 44-0 drubbing of Virginia University of Lynchburg to start the season.   “The defense has been unbelievable,” said head coach Steve Englehart, as he started his postgame interview with Jerry Durney and Paul Van Scott. “They've been kind of a bend-don't break style all year and they didn't even bend tonight.”   Things got off to a good start for the Panthers, who took the ball 76 yards on their opening possession, highlighted by an 18-yard catch by Robert Foy and capped off by a Gary H...

The Florida Tech Panthers completed a doubleheader sweep of the Mississippi College Choctaws on Friday night, with an 8-3 victory in game two. This victory followed a 6-4 win for the Panthers, earlier in the day. As they did in game one, the Panthers gave up a lead late, but they came from behind for the second time, scoring six runs in the final two innings and turning a one run deficit into a five-run lead. Florida Tech scored a run in the fourth inning on an RBI single by James Gronberg . The hit scored Grant McKown , who reached on an error to start the inning, against Choctaws starting pitcher Zach Ingram. David Wilson started the fifth inning with a single and later scored on a single off the bat of John Sternagel , giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead. Andy Marzheuser got the start for the Panthers in game two and he pitched 4.1 innings of no-hit baseball, before Colton Johnson got the first hit if the game for the home team. After Johnson stole second and Grant ...

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...

The Florida Tech Panthers ran roughshod over the Mississippi College Choctaws on Saturday night. scoring an impressive 41-0 victory in the home opener at Florida Tech Panther Stadium. It was the second shutout in school history for the Panthers and their second largest margin of victory. The last time the Panthers shut out an opponent was back on September 19, 2015 beating Warner 37-0. “Whenever you can pitch a shutout on the defensive side, it makes things a lot easier,” said Panthers coach Steve Englehart after the game. “When you hold teams to zero, obviously you’re gonna win the game. Proud of our defense for doing that.” He continued, “I like the fact that our guys on defense were hungry and wanted to do that. It’s hard to hold people to zero nowadays in the game of football, so when you can do it, I think it’s something special.” After Mississippi College stalled on their first drive, the Panthers got right to work. They needed just five plays, highlighted by...