April 9, 2021
No. 19 Baseball Drops Series Finale with No. 13 College of Central Florida, 5-3
College of Central Florida
33-12, 11-7
5
Santa Fe College
25-10, 14-3
3
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 1 |
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 3 |
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 19 Santa Fe Baseball led for most of the way on Friday afternoon against visiting No. 13 College of Central Florida, but the Patriots found a way to account for the game's final four runs in a 5-3 win at the SF Baseball Field.
Tyler Shelnut's RBI single in the first inning opened the scoring, and the Saints threatened for more before the Patriots got an inning-ending groundout.
The Patriots didn't score until the top of the third inning, hitting a sacrifice fly off starter Brooks Walton to knot the game at 1-1.
The starting pitchers dueled and the score remained at 1-1 until the bottom of the fifth frame, when Luis Rodriguez found a gap in the infield for an RBI single to plate Austin Akey, who had led off with a walk. Santa Fe had the opportunity for more with two runners on and one out, but the College of Central Florida eluded further damage with an inning-ending double play.
The first two Patriots reached safely in the top of the sixth, but Walton did well to retire three consecutive batters to keep SF in front.
Catcher Bret Madren crushed a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the sixth to put the Saints ahead 3-1, but the run was countered by one tally from CF in their next at-bats.
Santa Fe had the bases loaded with two outs in the next frame with an opportunity to extend their 3-2 lead.
Madren's ground out ended the inning, and the Patriots then benefitted from an error in the outfield to tie the game once again, 3-3, headed into the bottom of the eighth.
The Saints' next at-bats in the eighth concluded with another double play, and CF proceeded to take their first lead of the game in the ninth. With the bases loaded and one out, the Patriots used an RBI single off Shelnut to go ahead 4-3, which was followed up by a sacrifice fly to bring the score to 5-3.
Although Shelnut ended the inning by inducing a groundout to second base, the Saints headed into their final at-bats needing to make up some ground.
Jonathan Logsdon started the inning with a walk, but the next two batters struck out. Coy Phillips kept the Saints' hopes alive with a single, and SF was one swing away from a walkoff win. Madren, however, couldn't reproduce his earlier home run and went down swinging on a 1-2 pitch.
Key Statistics
Phillips finished 3-of-5 with a double, while Rodriguez was 2-of-5 with an RBI. Shelnut's single and Madren's home run acocunted for the other two RBI. Logsdon scored a run and walked three times.
Walton had a quality start, going 7.2 IP with nine hits, two earned runs, and three strikeouts. Garfield Johns and Eduardo Yepes appeared out of the bullpen before giving way to Shelnut, who was charged with the loss after allowing two earned runs in his 1.1 IP.
Up Next
Despite the defeat, No. 19 Santa Fe (25-10, 14-3 MFC) claimed two of the three games in the series with the No. 13 Patriots. The Saints remain atop the Mid-Florida Conference standings, and have the chance to get back into the win column on Saturday, April 10 at 1:00 p.m. on the road against Florida State College at Jacksonville.