Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – No. 26 (
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II Top 30) Flagler College split a non-conference doubleheader with Eckerd College Saturday afternoon at the Turley Complex. Flagler won the opener 10-5 and Eckerd held off a Flagler rally in game two in a 9-7 win.
Flagler leaves with a 27-12 overall record while Eckerd is now 18-17.
In the opener,
Jason Moore hit the first of his two home runs, this one a solo shot, to lead off the second inning for the Saints.
Connor Laspina drove in a run with a double to give Flagler an early 2-0 lead.
The Tritons had single tallies in the second and third before Flagler unleashed a seven-run bludgeoning in the fourth.
Jimmy Peck and
Steven DiPuglia hit back-to-back home runs to open the fourth and
Sean Lawlor hit a two-run ground-rule double to increase the lead. In all, the Saints sent 10 men to the plate and they had seven hits.
Louis Pugliese (3-2) rode the offensive explosion to the win on the mound. He scattered five hits and allowed three runs in five innings of work. Pugliese struck out four batters.
Nick Martinez tossed three scoreless innings in relief and
Kyle Hansen tossed the ninth.
Moore went 4-for-4 with two home runs, a double, three runs scored and three runs batted in. DiPuglia went 3-for-5 with a home run, one run scored and one RBI.
Dillon Reed collected two singles and scored a run.
Nick Alonzo (4-4) took the loss after hurling 3 1/3 innings. He allowed 10 hits and seven earned runs.
Mitch Calandra collected three singles, scored a run and knocked in another. Shane LeMaster finished 3-for-5 with a double.
In game two, Eckerd scored five unearned runs in the second inning and the Tritons held off a furious comeback attempt by the Saints in the last few innings.
Tim Mira led off the second inning by reaching on a fielding error by Flagler second baseman
Ethan Crout. The next batter drew a walk and Jake Romine followed with an infield single to load the bases. A double play got the Saints the outs they needed, but Mira scored the first run of the game.
A pair of singles by the Tritons kept the inning going, when it should have been over with the double play. Then Keith Leavitt, Jr. belted a three-run home run to right field.
Eckerd led 6-1 going into the bottom of the sixth when it scored three more runs. The first three batters of the inning hit singles; the latter by Calandra scored a run to put the Tritons up 7-1. A walk loaded the bases and Garrett Hiott drove in what would be the insurance run with a single to left.
Flagler trailed 9-1 going into the seventh. The Saints scored once in the seventh and pushed across four more in the eighth. After the first two outs in the eighth were recorded, Flagler strung together four consecutive singles and
Ja'Kobi Dasher's RBI double to right field cut the deficit to 9-6. He was left on second base.
In the ninth,
Kenneth Gordon led off with a walk and Crout followed with a single. Peck came up as a pinch hitter and hit a single down the left field line to score Gordon, which brought the go ahead run to the plate. Triton reliever Jack Iervolino came in and struck out the next two batters and got a pop up to end the game.
Robin Allen (4-2) earned the win as he tossed 6 1/3 innings. He allowed five hits and one earned run to go along with seven strikeouts. Iervolino picked up his second save.
Chase Achuff led the Tritons with four singles, two runs scored and one RBI. Calandra collected three singles, scored two runs and drove in another.
Robert Girgis (4-2) lasted just two-plus innings and surrendered six runs (one earned) on seven hits.
Anderson fished with a pair of singles, scored two runs and had one RBI. Dasher went 2-for-4 with a double and one RBI.
Flagler will host Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on Tuesday (April 10) at 6 p.m. on "Ashley Daniel Night" at Drysdale Field.
