#TCCBaseball blanks Pensacola State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (April 9, 2016) – Felix Dieguez pitched a five-hit shutout and Tallahassee Community College's baseball team took advantage of five Pensacola State College errors en route to a 9-0, seven-inning victory on Saturday afternoon at Eagle Field.   

Tallahassee (31-15, 5-9 PC) moved into a third-place tie with idle Northwest Florida State College (4-8) in the Panhandle Conference standings, though the Eagles are percentage points ahead of the Raiders. Pensacola State (19-24, 2-12) is now three games back in the race for third place and the PC's Wild Card berth with just six games remaining.

After dropping Wednesday's home game against Northwest Florida State, Tallahassee found itself in a must-win situation against the Pirates. The Eagles needed a miraculous ninth-inning comeback to win Friday's series opener. No such heroics were needed on Saturday, though it did take awhile for the offense to wake up.

Tallahassee broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth.

Zach Featherstone led off the inning with a single and scored on Kyle Cavanaugh's triple to deep left-center. Cavanaugh came home on Ethan Crout's RBI-ground out and just like that, the Eagles led 2-0.

That proved to be all the run support Dieguez (5-0) needed. The southpaw scattered five hits and three walks over seven innings of work but recorded seven strikeouts to keep the Pirates at bay.

Pensacola State had its chances, however. In both the first and third innings, Dieguez pitched out of two on, one out scenarios.

The Pirates' best opportunity came in the third when, with runners at second and third and one out, Miles Fore hit a grounder to third baseman Mac Wilson, who threw out Jake Durant trying to score from third. Pensacola State eventually left the bases loaded and stranded eight runners total.

Tallahassee doubled its lead with two runs in the fifth on RBI-singles by Cavanaugh and Crout then blew the game open with five runs in the sixth.

Bryan Scheker's single to left scored Deyvid Silva to start the scoring. A wild pitch plated Myron Mebane, and a fielder's choice plated Scheker. Bret Maxwell doubled home Josh Nothdorft, and Cavanaugh singled in Featherstone to cap the scoring.

Cavanaugh, who was 3-for-4, scored twice and drove in two runs to pace the Eagles' 11-hit attack.

Crout was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Maxwell was 2-for-4 with a run scored and one driven in.

Tallahassee, who was won three of four, will host Chipola College at 5 p.m. Monday.