No. 3 State College of Florida downs No. 1 Tallahassee in 12 innings
| Final (12) | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 5 |
|
Tallahassee | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 21, 2014) – FCSAA No. 3 State College of Florida (10-3) scored two runs in the top of the 12th inning and defeated No. 1 Tallahassee Community College, 4-2, on Friday evening in game one of a three-game set at Eagle Field.
Tallahassee (12-3) rallied from a 2-0 deficit to force extra innings. The Eagles scored the tying run in the bottom of the ninth but missed a golden opportunity to win the game after loading the bases with nobody out.
After Geremy Walton struck out swinging for the first out, Ryne Willard's fielder's choice scored Johnny Blue Craig to tie the game at 2-all. The Eagles' had one more opportunity with the winning run 90 feet away, but Christian Dicks struck out to end the inning.
The game remained tied at two until the 12th. The Manatees' Alex Pinero led off the inning with a single against Connor O'Brien and later scored what proved to be the winning run when Danny Lee reached on a fielder's choice. Trevor Beeman's two-out single scored Ryan Valdes with the second run of the inning.
Beeman, who earlier homered, went 2-for-6 with two RBI.
State College of Florida won despite committing five errors and striking out 14 times against two of Tallahassee's three pitchers.
Victor Cole, who struck out seven, started and carried a shutout into the fifth. The Manatees scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, but that was all the offense they could muster against the Tallahassee southpaw.
Collin Straw struck out seven in 3.1 innings of relief.
A two-out rally got Tallahassee got on the board in the seventh. Craig and Matt Olive singled then Ricky Negron and Walton followed with consecutive walks. The latter scored Craig to cut the Manatees' lead in half. With the bases still loaded, Willard flew out to end the inning.
The Eagles stranded 11 runners and also had a run cut down at home in the first inning.
Offensively, Craig (2-for-5) and Bobby Rice (2-for-6) had multi-hit games for Tallahassee.
The same two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.
