Eagles beat Darton State, fall to Gordon State on Opening Day

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (January 30, 2015) - FCSAA No. 9 Tallahassee Community College split two games on Opening Day at the annual First Pitch Classic hosted by Gulf Coast State College.

The Eagles (1-1) outlasted Darton (Ga.) State College 9-8 in the day's first game but fell to Gordon (Ga.) State College, 5-0, in game two.

Tallahassee will play the same two teams on Saturday, but in the reverse order - Gordon State at 1:30 p.m., Darton State at 4 p.m.

In the opener, a relatively quiet game turned into a wild affair in the final inning.

With the score tied at four, the Eagles scored five runs in the top of the seventh.

Robert Henderson's two-run single scored Ethan Crout and D.J. McKnight to give Tallahassee a 6-4 lead. Zach Featherstone followed with a three-run homer to give the Eagles a seemingly comfortable 9-4 advantage.

In the Cavaliers' final at-bat, the first six batters reached base to cut Tallahassee's lead to 9-8. With the tying run on third and nobody out, Matt Schaeffer dug in and retired the next three batters in order, the final out coming on a liner to third baseman Tyler Atwell.

Schaeffer (1-0) picked up the win in relief, tossing the final two innings.

Atwell and Cody Fulton lead Tallahassee's 12-hit attack with three hits each. Jonathan Burkett was 2-for-3.

Against Gordon State, the Eagles managed only three hits in the 5-0 loss.

Dustin Dye (0-1) took the loss for Tallahassee, allowing four earned runs over five inning of work. He did strike out five.

Micah Dunn pitched the final two innings and held the Highlanders hitless.

Atwell had two of the Eagles' three hits.