Eagles continue to roll, finish sweep of Gulf Coast State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (April 1, 2013) - FCSAA No. 1 Tallahassee Community College won its eighth straight Panhandle Conference game on Monday, defeating No. 4 Gulf Coast State College, 2-1, at Eagle Field to complete a three-game sweep of the Commodores.

Since falling to Chipola College on March 18, Tallahassee has rattled off eight straight victories, including sweeps against Pensacola State College and Gulf Coast State - the latter in a showdown of the top two teams in the PC standings.

Tallahassee (37-5) is 11-1 in PC play for the first time in school history and enjoys a 4.5 game lead over second-place Gulf Coast State (26-13, 5-4 PC) and is 5.5 games clear of third-place Chipola (26-16, 4-5) with eight games remaining in league play. 

Roughly 48 hours after the end of Saturday's 15-inning marathon, runs were hard to come by on Monday. It didn't help that Tallahassee ace Nick Deckert (7-0) and Gulf Coast State's Joey McCarthy were on point, despite a bit of a shaky start. 

Deckert issued a pair of walks in the top of the first. After a force out at second, Trevin Hall's sac-fly scored Kevin Husum to give the Commodores a 1-0 lead. 

In the bottom half, McCarthy walked leadoff hitter Anthony Torres, who was back in the lineup after sitting out Saturday's game. Torres stole second then scored on Clay Fenwick's single up the middle. 

One inning later, Tallahassee plated an unearned run that proved to be the difference in the game. 

John Price, Jr., led off the inning with a single then advanced to third when third baseman Tyler Dial's throw was wide at second on the force attempt.  With runners on the corners, Matt Bahnick chopped a one-hopper over the head of Dial into left field, scoring Price, Jr. 

Deckert and McCarthy took over from there. 

Deckert scattered six hits and struck out five before exiting with one out in the eighth. Dan VanSickle, the winning pitcher on Saturday, recorded the final five outs to notch the save. He needed only four pitches to retire the Commodores in order in the ninth. 

McCarthy went the distance for Gulf Coast State. He allowed seven hits, walked three and struck out two. 

Tallahassee will enjoy a six-day break before returning to play next Monday when it hosts Northwest Florida State College at 5 p.m.