#TCCBaseball: Chipola takes 2-1 pitcher’s duel

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (April 11, 2018) – Tallahassee Community College's seven-game winning streak came to an end on Wednesday in a 2-1 loss to Chipola College. 

Tallahassee (32-15, 10-8 Panhandle Conference) remains in second place in the league standings but saw its lead over third-place trimmed to two games, the result of Pensacola State College's 11-1 win over Gulf Coast State College. 

Chipola (34-10, 14-4) now leads Tallahassee by four games with six to play. 

After the teams traded runs in the fourth inning, Chipola broke the 1-1 tie in the sixth. 

Edmond Americaan took Brandon Reitz' first pitch of the inning to deep right-center for a triple. Two batters later, he scored when Alex Webb pushed a single through a drawn-in infield. 

Reitz (3-4) scattered seven hits over 5.1 innings. He struck out five and allowed only one walk, but the Indians used it to manufacture the first run of the game. 

Francisco Urbaez drew the free pass to start the fourth. Consecutive singles loaded the bases then Julio Carrion's sac-fly scored Urbaez. Reitz escaped further damage and Tallahassee tied the game in the bottom half on Tucker Rayburn's two-out double. 

The Eagles missed a potential opportunity to tie the game in the sixth. With Tanner Thomas on second and two outs, Logan Lacey drew a walk on Phillip Sanderson's payoff pitch. Thomas, however, drifted too far off second and was picked off to end the scoring threat. 

After Reitz exited in the sixth, Christian Dearman and Tyler Lehrmann combined to limit the Indians to just one hit over the final 3.2 innings and give the Eagles a chance. 

Tallahassee finally knocked out Sanderson after Cole Vann drew a leadoff walk to start the ninth, but reliever Jared Howell needed just one pitch to extinguish another potentially rally. Logan Lacey grounded into a 5-4-3 double play and Rayburn grounded out to second to end the game. 

Sanderson allowed only two hits over eight-plus innings for the win. 

Tallahassee opens a two-game series with Gulf Coast State at 5 p.m. eastern on Friday in Panama City.