LEESBURG, Fla. – No. 24 (
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II Top 30) Flagler College split a non-conference doubleheader against West Chester University Tuesday afternoon at Pat Thomas Stadium. West Chester won the opener 7-0 while Flagler rallied to win the second game, 6-4.
Flagler moved its record to 17-8 while West Chester is now 6-3.
In the second game, Flagler fell behind early as it surrendered three West Chester runs in the first inning.
A run-scoring double by
Lorenzo Butler started things, and then he scored on a
Jason Moore sacrifice fly in the home half of the first.
The Saints trailed 4-2 going into the bottom of the sixth, of the seven-inning contest.
Dylan Jones was hit by a pitch and Butler hit his third double of the game to put runners in scoring position. Butler hit a high fly ball to right-center and the West Chester center fielder lost sight of the ball which landed just to his left. That chased Rams starter Michael Dietz from the game.
The first pitch reliever Tim Edwards (1-1) threw bounced in the dirt and got past the catcher allowing Jones to score. Then Edwards hit
Jake Hathaway. A momentary mental lapse by Edwards caused another Flagler run to score. With runners on the corners, Edwards tried a jump move to first base, but was called for a balk. Hathaway went to second and Butler scored the game-tying run. Moore singled to right and Flagler had runners on the corners again, with nobody out. Edwards was ahead in the count (0-2) on
Igor Baez, but was pulled in favor of Joe Kinee. Baez hit a single to right on his first pitch to drive in the go-ahead run. Kinee followed by trying to pickoff Moore at second base, but the throw went into center field. To compound the matter, Kinee uncorked a wild pitch to score Moore from third.
Luke Cooksey (2-1), working in his second inning of relief, allowed one base runner in the seventh, but held strong to retire the side an earn the win. He struck out two batters and did not allow a run or a hit.
Nick Martinez did an impressive job in middle relief. He tossed five innings, starting in the first, and scattered four hits and allowed one run. Martinez struck out a career-high seven batters.
Butler collected three doubles, scored two runs and knocked in one run. He had half of Flagler's hits.
Edwards faced two-plus batters in the sixth, allowed one hit and two runs. Dietz tossed five-plus innings and allowed four runs on four hits. He fanned four.
Zach Sheranko went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in the fourth. He finished with two runs batted in. Joey Coyle and Nick Ward led off the game with back-to-back home runs.
In the opener, the Rams erupted for five runs in the second inning and never looked back. Drew Jarmuz hit a two-run single and Anthony Salomone followed with a three-run homer to left field.
West Chester's Mike Cipolla (1-1) kept Flagler off balance and limited the Saints to an infield hit in the second inning. Cipolla retired 14-of-the-last-15 batters he faced. He induced 11 ground outs, struck out six and walked just two batters.
Shane Dressler led the 10-hit attack by going 3-for-3 with a home run, two runs scored and two more driven in.
Ryan Ashworth (1-1) tossed 2 1/3 innings and he surrendered seven hits and five earned runs.
Dante Pagano tossed the last 3 2/3 innings.
Baez had the lone hit for the Saints.
Flagler returns to Peach Belt Conference play on Friday (March 17) against the University of Montevallo at 6 p.m. at Drysdale Field.
