Eagles outpitch Raiders in 3-2 victory

By Karl Hunt, TCC Sports Infromation

NICEVILLE, Fla. (March 23, 2015) – Tallahassee Community College found itself in a pitcher's duel with Northwest Florida State College on Monday evening, and the Eagles emerged with a 3-2 win in game one of the teams' three-game Panhandle Conference series.

Tallahassee has won six in a row to improve to 24-10 overall. Now 2-2 in league play, the Eagles are in sole possession of third place in the PC standings.

Kyle Pausche (4-0) turned in his second straight solid start to earn the win, his fourth of the season. He scattered seven hits over 5.2 innings, allowing only single runs in the first and second innings.

After the Raiders got on the board in their first at-bat, Tallahassee answered right back scoring three runs in the top of the second inning.

With the bases loaded and nobody out, a fielder's choice retired Tyler Atwell at home for the first out. One batter later, the Eagles had a 3-1 lead.

Matt Olive singled to center – Tyler Kinard trotted home from third and Cody Fulton scored from second ahead of Mack Hackcoth's throw from center. Hackcoth's throw, however, was off the mark allowing Geremy Walton to race home from third.

Olive went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a double.

Northwest Florida State got a run back in the bottom of the second, but that was it offensively for the hosts.

With two outs in the sixth, Pausche handed the ball to Matt Schaefer, who shut out the Raiders over the final 3.1 innings for the save. He allowed only one hit and struck out three.  

Game two of the series is back in Tallahassee at 5 p.m. Wednesday.