Eagles pound FSCJ for seventh win

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 17, 2021) – Losers of three straight, in which it had mustered a total of just seven runs and nine hits, the law of averages suggested Tallahassee Community College's baseball team was due for a breakout performance. It was just a matter of when and who would be on the receiving end. 

The answers proved to be Wednesday and Florida State College at Jacksonville. 

The Eagles' bats came to life on Wednesday evening, racking up 13 hits in a 15-3 victory over the Blue Wave at Eagle Field. 

Through four innings, Tallahassee had managed just three hits and found itself in a 2-2 ballgame. Things changed abruptly beginning an inning later, as the Eagles exploded for 13 runs in its final four at-bats. 

Jeissy De La Cruz, whose third-inning sac-fly accounted for the Eagles' second run of the day, singled home Trent Jeffcoat with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth, and scored the inning's third run when Blue Wave reliever Patrick Groark issued a second consecutive bases-loaded walk. 

Officially, De La Cruz was just 1-for-2 but accounted for six runs – he scored three and drove in three, including a second sac-fly during the Eagles' three-run seventh. 

Before that, however, Tallahassee blew the game open with a four-run sixth. 

Bryson Kirksey led off the inning with a single, stole second and advanced to third on Jeffcoat's single. Two batters later, he scored on Spencer Hanson's sac-fly to center. After De La Cruz was hit by a pitch, both he and Jeffcoat scored on Orlando Adams' double down the left field line. Brendan Power's RBI-single plated Adams and gave the Eagles a 9-2 cushion. 

Josh Gray led off the seventh with a solo homer to right and Hanson's two-run triple capped another three-run inning in the eighth. 

Hanson was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Jeffcoat was 3-for-5 and scored four runs. 

Patrick Libby, who has allowed three or fewer hits in each of his four starts, threw three no-hit innings before Andrew Crumbley came on to start the fourth. 

Crumbley (1-0) was credited with the victory, pitching 2.1 innings of two-hit ball. 

Tanner Martin struck out six in 2.2 innings of work, and Joey Silvestri recorded the final three outs, including the last two of Tallahassee's 11 strikeouts for the game. 

The Eagles will carry a 7-7 record into Saturday's doubleheader at State College of Florida. Game one is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.