Deckert, Bornstein shut out South Georgia in Eagles' home opener

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 1, 2013) - A pair of sophomore southpaws - Nick Deckert and Ethan Bornstein - combined on a three-hit shutout in FCSAA No. 9 Tallahassee Community College's 11-0 win over South Georgia College on Friday afternoon in the Eagles' home opener at Eagle Field.

Deckert (1-0) started and tossed five innings of three-hit ball to notch the victory. Bornstein, who inherited a 7-0 lead in the top of the sixth, held the Tigers' hitless and struck out six over the final four innings.

After Deckert pitched his way out of two-on, none-out trouble in the top of the first, Tallahassee plated two runs in the bottom half - without the benefit of a hit.

South Georgia starter and loser Taylor Simpson issued walks to Anthony Torres and Matt Bahnick to put a runner in scoring position with just one out in the inning. Simpson hit cleanup hitter Trent Higginbothem to load the bases then plunked Tyler York to bring home Torres with the first run of the game. A sac-fly off the bat of Chad Mabini scored Bahnick from third.

The score remained 2-0 until the fourth when another hit-batsman put the Eagles in business.

Mabini was hit to lead off the inning - the third batter hit by Simpson - and James Abbatinozzi singled with one-out to put a runner in scoring position. After an infield pop up, both runners scored on a bloop double down the right field line off the bat of Torres, who advanced to third on an errant throw home.

The error proved costly when second baseman Reed Melcolm bobbled Clay Fenwick's grounder, allowing Torres to score the third run of the inning.

Abbatinozzi doubled home two more runs in the fifth and Tallahassee iced the game with four runs an inning later. Fenwick, Bahnick, York and Mabini all picked up run-scoring hits in the frame.

Abbatinozzi led the Eagles' 10-hit attack, going 3-for-5.

Tallahassee swept this week's home-and-home series with South Georgia by a combined score of 23-4 to improve to 5-1 on the young season.

The Eagles will face their third Region 17 (Georgia) foe on Saturday when Abraham Baldwin (Ga.) Agricultural College visits Eagle Field for a 2 p.m. first pitch.

Live stats of Saturday's game will be available through www.TCCeagles.com.