No. 16 Baseball Takes Care of St. Petersburg, 11-1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | X | 11 | 12 | 2 |
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – St. Petersburg College came to town to meet No. 16 Santa Fe College Baseball for the first of three scheduled matchups between the two teams, and the Saints took care of the Titans by an 11-1 score at the SF Baseball Field.
Trent Becker continued his excellent pitching from the mound in this one and got the run support he needed to move to 2-0.
The Saints struck first in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Gabriel Esquivel belted his NJCAA-leading sixth home run of the season, a no-doubter to the street in left field.
SF added two more runs in that frame, when Jake McKee hustled around the bags for a two-RBI triple.
The Saints broke the game open in the fifth, bringing in five more to take an 8-0 lead. Esquivel once again did damage with his bat, scoring Jevin Relaford with an RBI double.
Later in the inning, Santiago Garavito had an RBI single, and then another three runs came across via two errors from the Titans.
An 11-0 lead was established in the seventh. Garavito had an RBI double find a gap in the outfield, then JP Herrholz brought Garavito home with one of his own. The Saints' final run came from a hit by pitch from Zeth Rodriguez with the bases loaded.
St. Petersburg had a solo home run in the ninth spoil a combined shutout, but all in all, it was a great performance from the Saints after some ups and downs in the early season.
Key Statistics
Becker was superb from the hill, throwing seven shutout frames with just four hits and one walk allowed. He matched his season and career-high with 8 K's.
Carson Pillsbury pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, giving way to Gavin Book in the ninth. Book struck out two and peppered the strike zone, despite the one blemish on the solo home run.
Santa Fe had 12 hits, and four different players had multi-hit efforts. Herrholz continued to swing a hot bat, going 3-of-4 with two runs scored, an RBI double, and a walk. Esquivel's two hits produced runs with the homer and double, and he has recorded at least one hit in seven of his last eight games.
Garavito had a quality outing from the box, going 2-of-4 with a double, two runs scored, and two RBI.
Up Next
No. 16 Santa Fe (6-4) plays two at South Florida State College on Saturday, Feb. 12. Game 1 begins at noon.
