Manatees drop Tallahassee in series opener

BRADENTON, Fla. (February 21, 2015) – State College of Florida broke a 2-all tie with two runs in the sixth and eventually defeated Tallahassee Community College 5-2 in Saturday's series opener between the longtime rivals.

Tallahassee had its four-game winning streak snapped and is now 9-5 on the season. The teams will wrap up the two-game set at 1 p.m. Sunday.

State College of Florida picked up two runs off Tallahassee starter Chad Mabini in its first at-bat, but the Eagles evened things up in the third.

After the first three runners reached base, sacrifice flies by Ethan Crout and Tyler Atwell accounted for two runs and pulled the Eagles into a 2-all tie.

The game remained knotted at two into the sixth when the Manatees used a couple of run-scoring doubles to go back in front and knock out Mabini. Brad Zunica's eighth-inning homer provided State College of Florida with an insurance run.

Mabini went 5.1 innings and was charged with seven hits and four earned runs.

Offensively, the Eagles managed only four hits – one each by Kyle Taddeo, Crout, Matt Olive and Chris Clark.