#TCCBaseball: Arias, Eagles even series with Pirates

PENSACOLA, Fla. (March 14, 2016) – Freshman pitcher Skylar Arias struck out 10 batters as NJCAA Region 8 No. 3 Tallahassee Community College defeated Pensacola State College 9-1 on Monday evening to even its Panhandle Conference baseball series at a game apiece. 

Arias (4-0) won his fourth straight start, allowing only five hits and one walk while lowering his ERA to 2.53. 

Tallahassee wasted no time on Monday, scoring four runs in its first at-bat and knocked out Pirates starter and losing pitcher Hunter Kiel after just two-thirds of an inning. 

Kiel walked five of the seven batters he faced – the last two coming with two outs and the bases loaded then uncorked a pair of wild pitches to plate the Eagles' final two runs in the first. 

Zach Featherstone's two-out double in the second scored Mac Wilson and gave the Eagles a 5-0 lead. Featherstone added another run-scoring double in the fourth to push Tallahassee's lead to a half dozen. 

That was all the run support Arias needed. He didn't allow a runner to reach second base until the fifth inning. After two hits and an error yielded the Pirates' first run of the night, Arias retired the next three batters in order to end the threat. 

Arias allowed only one hit and two base runners over the final four innings. 

Tallahassee added an insurance run in the eighth and two more in the ninth. 

Ethan Crout was 2-for-3 and walked three times. He also scored twice. 

Featherstone was 2-for-5 with two RBIs. 

The rubber game of the series will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Eagle Field.