Commodores clinch series with 14-4 win over Tallahassee

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (April 5, 2014) – FCSAA No. 2/NJCAA No. 16 Gulf Coast State College broke a 3-all tie with five runs in the seventh then added six more in the ninth and defeated No. 5/No. 12 Tallahassee Community College, 14-4, on Saturday afternoon.

The win clinched the series for the Commodores (32-8, 9-2), who will go for the three-game sweep when the teams return to Panama City for game three at 6 p.m. eastern Monday.

Gulf Coast State also took over sole possession of first place in the Panhandle Conference standings after Chipola College's (8-3) 13-9 loss to Northwest Florida State College.

Tallahassee (33-11), meanwhile, fell into a third-place tie with Northwest Florida State. Both teams are 5-6 in league play.

After spotting Gulf Coast State an early 3-0 lead, Tallahassee scored a run in the second then tied the game with a pair in the fourth.

Christian Dicks singled to right-center to lead off the inning and Cody Borup bunted his way on to put the Eagles in business. After a ground out advanced both runners, Dicks came home when Commodores pitcher Brendan Leach uncorked a wild pitch.

Jonathan Burkett's sac-fly scored Borup to tie the game.

On the mound, Tallahassee gave the ball to Connor O'Brien, who made his first start of the season after 17 consecutive relief appearances. Outside of a shaky second inning when Gulf Coast State plated three runs on four hits, O'Brien didn't allow a base runner and took the mound in the seventh having retired 12 straight batters.

But after retiring leadoff hitter Christian Williams, he gave up a one-out single then hit Chandler Durham. Tallahassee head coach Mike McLeod wasted no time calling on Logan Elliot out of the Eagles' bullpen.

Elliot inherited a 2-1 count to Max Bartlett and eventually walked the Commodores' shortstop. Dondrayas Harris followed with a two-strike single to break the tie, and Gulf Coast State didn't slow down until it had scored five runs.

O'Brien, who took the loss, was charged with five runs, all earned, in 6.1 innings. Six Tallahassee relievers combined to allow nine runs and walked eight over the final 2.2 innings.

The 14 runs allowed was the most for the Eagles in Panhandle Conference play in almost three years.

Leach worked eight innings for the Commodores, allowing three runs and six hits, to earn the victory.

Dicks went 2-for-3 and scored two of the Eagles' four runs. Burkett finished 0-for-2 but had two RBI.

Williams, Harris, Nick Flair and Tevin Johnson had two hits apiece for Gulf Coast State.