#TCCBaseball drops rubber game to NWF State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (April 6, 2016) – Northwest Florida State College pounded out 20 hits en route to a 12-7 win over Tallahassee Community College on Wednesday evening in the rubber game of the teams' three-game Panhandle Conference baseball series. 

With the win, Northwest Florida State (29-14, 4-8 PC) took over sole possession of third place in the PC standings. Tallahassee (29-15, 3-9) sits one game back and one game ahead of last place Pensacola State College (19-22, 2-10) with eight games to play.

The Raiders battered Pensacola State for 18 hits in a 17-15 win on Tuesday night while Tallahassee was coming off a 17-hit effort in Monday's 9-2 win over Northwest Florida State that evened the series.

Through four innings, Wednesday looked like anything but a game that would produce similar results and a combined 19 runs and 33 hits.

Northwest Florida State touched up Tallahassee starter Brooks Buckler for five hits and single runs in the first and fourth innings and took a 2-0 lead to the fifth. Then, over the next four innings, the Raiders tallied ten runs and 15 hits against Buckler and four relievers.

After knocking out Buckler with two runs in the sixth, the Raiders had a comfortable 7-0 lead. Meanwhile, Tallahassee had managed only four hits against Northwest Florida State's Will Luft.

Things changed quickly in the bottom of the sixth.

Tallahassee strung together five straight hits to start the inning and knock out Luft, the last an RBI-double by Deyvid Silva to cut the Raiders' lead to 7-3. Myron Mebane greeted reliever Eric Orze by drilling a three-run homer over the right field wall to bring the Eagles within a run.

Following a strikeout, two more hits, a single by Mac Wilson and Josh Nothdorft's double, put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. Bret Maxwell came within inches of giving the Eagles a 9-7 lead but left fielder Hunter Tackett's leaping catch at the wall turned a three-run homer into a game-tying sac-fly.

Northwest Florida State regained the momentum quickly, scoring three runs in the seventh then padded its lead with two in the eighth, courtesy of Tyler Lane's home run off Junior Gorordo.

Rion Murrah took the loss for Tallahassee. He was charged with three runs and five hits in one inning of work.

Wilson led the Eagles' 13-hit attack, going 4-for-4. Cavanaugh was 2-for-5 and Maxwell was 2-for-4.

Tallahassee opens a crucial home-and-home series with Pensacola State at 5 p.m. eastern Friday in Pensacola.