Back on track: Eagles pick up resounding win over Pensacola State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (April 11, 2014) – Tallahassee Community College snapped a four-game losing streak in emphatic fashion on Friday, defeating Pensacola State College, 14-4 in six innings. 

Tallahassee is now 34-13 overall – but the more important numbers are 6-8, the Eagles' Panhandle Conference record with six games remaining in the regular season. Tallahassee is just percentage points ahead of Northwest Florida State College for third place in the Panhandle Conference standings, although the Raiders were idle and have eight games left on their schedule. 

Tallahassee took the field on Friday playing its first must-win regular season game in two seasons. The Eagles had dropped four straight since taking a 6-5 win in the rubber game against Northwest Florida State on March 27. Included was a 6-5 loss to Pensacola State on Wednesday, one that snapped a ten-game PC losing streak for the Pirates. 

Quincy Nieporte did most of the offensive damage for Tallahassee – driving in seven runs and scoring another, all part of a 5-for-5 afternoon. He finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. 

Nieporte started the scoring in the first with a grand slam off Pirates starter and losing pitcher Matt Muench. After the Pirates got a run back in the second, Tallahassee went to work again in the bottom half. 

Christian Dicks roped a triple down the right field line to score Matt Olive and Johnny Blue Craig. Later in the inning, Bobby Rice singled home Dicks to give the Eagles a 7-1 lead. 

Pensacola State plated two runs in the third and one more in the fourth, all off Tallahassee starter Connor O'Brien, to pull within 8-4, but the Eagles' bullpen did its part, holding the Pirates hitless over the final 2.2 innings. 

Tallahassee extended its lead to 10-4 on Nieporte's two-run single in the fifth and ended the game with four runs in the sixth. 

Pensacola State aided the Eagles' cause, committing three errors in the final inning. The last miscue by third baseman Logan Collier scored Dicks from third and allowed Rice to reach base, thus extending the inning.

Nieporte took advantage, crushing a double to the gap in left center field to score Rice with the game-ending run. 

The top four hitters in the Tallahassee lineup – Craig (3-for-3, four runs, RBI), Dicks (2-for-4, three runs, three RBI), Rice (1-for-4, two runs, two RBI) and Nieporte – accounted for all but three of the Eagles' 14 hits. 

Collin Strall (5-1), who came on in the fourth after Riley Hodge faced just one batter, pitched the final 2.2 innings and struck out four to earn the win. 

Tallahassee opens a crucial two-game set against Chipola College on Saturday at Eagle Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.