#TCCBaseball rallies late to down Darton State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (March 3, 2016) – NJCAA Region 8 No. 1 Tallahassee Community College exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 10-5 win over NJCAA No. 11 Darton (Ga.) State College in Thursday afternoon baseball action. 

The win improved Tallahassee's record to 20-5 and was the third win in as many tries over the Cavaliers (9-10). The Eagles will go for the season sweep on Saturday when the teams play in Albany, Ga., at 2 p.m. 

Darton State broke a 3-3 tie in the top of the seventh, scoring on a wild pitch then added another run in the eighth to grab a 5-3 advantage. In the bottom of the eighth, however, Tallahassee sent ten men to the plate and plated seven runs despite only three hits. 

Walks to Mac Wilson, Zach Featherstone and Kyle Cavanaugh loaded the bases then Ethan Crout was hit by a pitch. The fifth batter of the inning, Kyle Taddeo, singled to score Featherstone with the tying run. 

Deyvid Silva drew a bases-loaded walk to plate Cavanaugh with what proved to be the winning run. Later in the inning, Bret Maxwell singled home Crout and Taddeo scored on Josh Nothdorft's sacrifice-fly. 

Wilson capped the scoring with a two-run double to give the Eagles a comfortable 10-5 lead. 

Thomas Nicoll (2-0), the third of four Tallahassee pitchers, ended up with the victory with 1.1 innings in relief. 

Featherstone was 2-for-3 with three runs scored, a home run and two RBIs. 

Taddeo was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. 

Featherstone smacked a two-run homer in the bottom of the first to give the Eagles an early lead. 

Darton State scored three unanswered runs before Tallahassee tied the game in the fifth on an RBI-single from Taddeo. 

Before the teams meet on Saturday, Tallahassee will host Grand Rapids (Mich.) Community College at 4 p.m. Friday.