WINTER PARK, Fla. –
Todd Juliano's RBI double in a four-run seventh helped rally No. 19 (
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II Top 30) Flagler College past Rollins College 11-8 in a non-conference baseball game Tuesday night at Alfond Stadium at Harper-Shepherd Field.
Flagler improved to 31-12 overall. Rollins fell to 19-25 on the season.
Trailing 6-5 going into the top of the seventh inning,
Nick Kranick greeted Rollins reliever Brett Mueller with a lead-off home run to right field. Brett Scafidi (0-2) replaced Mueller and surrendered a single to
Shawn Hendon. Hendon took third on
Nick Oberg's grounder that was booted by the shortstop Grant Ashline. Hendon scored on Juliano's double to give the Saints the lead back at 7-6.
Skylar Fox drew a walk to load the bases and then
Igor Baez hit a grounder to at Ashline who flipped the ball to second base to force out Fox and Oberg scored.
Andrew Brodbeck brought home another run with a ground out.
The Tars put runners on first and second with two outs and without the benefit of a hit which forced a pitching change.
Justin Ratte came in to relieve
Brandan Keen (1-0). Zach Persky hit a triple on Ratte's second pitch to score both runners and Rollins trailed by one, 9-8.
Michael Hanke came in to relieve Ratte and got the next batter to ground out to end the inning.
Fox added an RBI single in the eighth and
Lorenzo Butler hit an RBI single in the ninth for insurance.
Keen tossed an inning and two-thirds to pick up his first win at Flagler. He did not allow a hit, but surrendered two runs, walked two and struck out one batter. Hanke earned his seventh save of the season after closing the last two and one-third innings, allowing just one hit and fanning three while keeping the Tars from scoring.
Brodbeck collected three singles, scored three runs and had two runs batted in. Juliano went 3-for-4 with the double, two runs scored and one RBI. Butler had a pair of base hits, a run scored and three RBI.
Scafidi tossed one-third of an inning to pick up the loss. He allowed two hits, one earned run and walked a batter.
Nick Breen led the Tars by going 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI. Christian Coburn singled twice and scored a run.
Flagler closes out the regular season with a Peach Belt Conference series at the University of South Carolina Aiken, starting on Saturday (April 25) with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. at Roberto Hernandez Stadium.
