#TCCBaseball takes two from NWF State, closes gap on Raiders

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (April 8, 2017) – Behind a pair of complete-game performances, Tallahassee Community College swept a Panhandle Conference doubleheader from Northwest Florida State College on Saturday, winning by the scores of 8-2 and 6-3. 

In the opener, sophomore righty Nick Marchese scattered eight hits and one walk over seven innings to notch the win. Fellow right-hander, freshman Derick Garcia, matched Marchese – literally – in game two, allowing eight hits and one walk in another seven-inning effort. 

Tallahassee, once 0-5 in PC play, has won eight of its last 11 games to climb back to .500 and at 8-8 is just two games back of the Raiders (10-6) with eight games left in the regular season. Equally important, Saturday's sweep protected Tallahassee's two-game lead over Gulf Coast State College (6-10) for third place in the PC standings and the conference's Wild Card berth. 

Tallahassee jumped on Northwest Florida State for four runs in its first at-bat of the afternoon. The inning was aided by a pair of Raider errors and a hit-batsman with the bases loaded scored Jordan Curtis with the first run. 

After a dropped popup allowed Josh Nothdorft to race home from third, Myron Mebane singled home the final two runs of the inning. 

Northwest Florida State got on the board in the third, touching up Marchese for two runs but, as it would all day, Tallahassee had an answer – two runs in its half of the third then one in the fifth and one more in the sixth. 

Tallahassee needed only seven hits, one each by seven different players. Mebane and Cole Vann had two RBIs each.

The Eagles jumped out to 4-0 lead, this time doing the damage in the second. Two-run doubles by Chris Hawkins and Nothdorft accounted for the damage and gave Garcia a four-run cushion in just his second start of the season. 

Northwest Florida State broke through with two runs in the third, but Tallahassee got one back in the fourth on Tucker Rayburn's single. 

The team exchanged runs in the sixth, Tallahassee's scoring on Vann's RBI-double. 

Tallahassee matched its game one total with seven hits, including two by Nothdorft (2-for-3, two runs, two RBIs). 

Tallahassee will return to action at home at 5 p.m. Monday against conference leader Chipola College.