#TCCBaseball: Eagles rally to take series opener vs. SCF

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 16, 2018) – Tallahassee Community College rallied from a 3-1 deficit then held on for an 8-5 win over State College of Florida on Friday evening at Eagle Field. 

Tallahassee snapped a three-game losing streak with the win, improving to 6-6, and dropped the Manatees' record to 10-4-1. 

After Tanner Thomas' solo homer put Tallahassee on the board in its first at-bat, the Eagles' bat went silent – just two hits over the next three innings and no base runner advanced past first. 

Meanwhile, the Manatees manufactured single runs in the second, third and fourth innings to take a 3-1 lead against Tallahassee starter Justin Sorokowski. The right-hander minimized the collective damage by striking out six over five innings of work to increase his season total to an NJCAA-best 32. 

Sorokowski and a trio of relievers also did yeoman's work pitching around six defensive errors – only one led to a State College of Florida run. While Tallahassee committed three times as many errors, it was that much better in taking advantage of the extra opportunities. 

With nobody on and two outs in the fifth, Keith Lyle reached base and advanced to second when SCF third baseman C.J. Alexander misplayed a grounder. Following an infield single by Jayson Sowden, Robbie Peto uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Lyle and trimming the Manatees' lead to a run. 

Peto struck out eight batters in six innings but when Hunter McGarry came on in the seventh, Tallahassee went to work. The Eagles had three hits in the inning but it was a pair of hit batsmen – both with two strikes – that fueled the decisive rally. 

Lyle, who was hit on a 1-2 pitch, eventually scored on Trey Polewski's game-tying single. Two batters later, McGarry's 0-2 pitch hit Cole Vann to load the bases – Logan Lacey cleared them when he smacked a first-pitch triple over the head of centerfielder Arron Greenfield to put Tallahassee in front, 6-3. 

An eighth-inning error resulted in a pair of insurance runs and an 8-3 lead for the Eagles. 

State College of Florida didn't go quietly in the ninth, scoring two runs and bringing the tying run to the plate before Alex Stobert recorded the final out to earn his second save. 

Stobert struck out Austin James to end the game, the 13^th of the night for the Eagles' pitching staff. 

Sorokowski and Jake Kinney struck out six batters each. 

Kinney (1-0) came on to start the sixth and pitched three innings to earn the win. The save was Stobert's first. 

Five players had two hits apiece for Tallahassee, including Lacy who was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Thomas went 2-for-4 with a run scored and one driven in. 

Tallahassee and State College of Florida will conclude their two-games series at 1 p.m. Saturday.