Eagles down Shelton State, improve to 13-3

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 26, 2013) - Tallahassee Community College rallied from a 2-0 deficit to score an 8-2 win over Shelton State (Ala.) Community College on Tuesday afternoon at Eagle Field.

Tallahassee is now 13-3 on the season while Shelton State, who placed fourth at the 2012 JUCO World Series, is 3-12.

For three innings, Shelton State looked like the team going for its 13th win in 16 games.

The Buccaneers manufactured single runs in the first and third innings against Tallahassee starter Taylor Wright. Meanwhile, Wright's counterpart, Shelton State starter John Hill, faced the minimum through three innings, allowing only a leadoff walk to Anthony Torres in the first.

After Windham Jackson's sac-fly scored Greg Howard to give Shelton State a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth, the Bucs went to their bullpen in the bottom half, bringing on Chase Davidson.

John Price, Jr.'s one-out single gave Tallahassee its first hit of the game and seemed to settle the Eagles offensively. Clay Fenwick followed with a single and, two batters later, Price scored on a sac-fly to left-center by Trent Higginbothem.

The game remained 2-1 into the bottom of the seventh when, working against Shelton State's third pitcher of the game, Donnie Elliott, Tallahassee finally broke through with a big inning.

After Matt Bahnick led off the inning with a double, Kevin Cruz tied the game with a single to left, and moved into scoring position on the throw to the plate. A wild pitch moved Cruz to third and James Abbatinozzi brought him home on a sac-fly to right.

That proved to be the game-winning run, although Tallahassee was far from done offensively. The Eagles added one more run in the seventh and put the game away with a two-out rally in the eighth.

With two down and nobody on, consecutive doubles by Abbatinozzi and Cody Borup plated the first run of the inning. Torres singled home Borup to give the Eagles a 6-2 lead. Price, Jr., followed suit with a run-scoring single to score Chad Mabini. An error by shortstop Jake Vickerson was responsible for the Eagles' final run of the afternoon.

Wright (1-0) was the beneficiary of Tallahassee's offensive outburst. He tossed seven innings, the longest outing by an Eagle starter this season, to notch his first victory of the season. The Bucs managed only three hits against the righty, although none came after the fourth inning.

Ethan Bornstein, who inherited a 4-2 lead, recorded the final six outs for the save, his first.

Torres, Price, Jr. and Abbatinozzi had two hits apiece for Tallahassee.

Tallahassee will host Santa Fe College at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Live stats and a live, in-game blog will be available at www.TCCeagles.com.