Eastern Florida falls 9-4 to Indian River
Eastern Florida will seek to right its baseball ship on Wednesday after a 9-4 loss at home on Tuesday.
Eastern Florida's baseball team, locked in a fight for a postseason berth in the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Tournament, stubbed its toe Tuesday night, falling 9-4 to Indian River State College.
The FCSAA Southern Conference defeat at Bruce Bochy Field on the Melbourne Campus dropped the Titans to 12-11 in the conference and 27-15 overall.
Eastern Florida spotted Indian River a 2-0 first-inning lead but rallied in its half of the first for a 2-2 tie.
Indian River broke the game open with six runs in the top of the fifth, banging out five hits and taking advantage of two Titan errors.
Eastern Florida scored twice in the sixth to cut the deficit to 8-4 but the Pioneers scored once in the seventh, making it 9-4.
The Titans loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, two batters reaching on consecutive hit by pitches. They did not score.
Chandellor Benton took the loss for the Titans, lasting only into the fifth inning, leaving with two men on base and no one out.
"We did not get quality pitching," said Eastern Florida head coach Jeff Tam. "It was hit and miss. Anytime we get that it's going to be a long night.
"We've got to pitch better. The staff has to come together. We have to catch the ball and get timely hitting."
The Titans used five pitchers. Three Indian River batters were hit by pitches but 11 struck out.
Eastern Florida sits third in the conference. The top two teams – currently Palm Beach State and Miami Dade College – will automatically advance to the tournament.
A third-place Eastern Florida finish will place it in its third tournament play-in game in the past five seasons. The Titans are 1-1 in play-in games. They automatically qualified last season and went 2-2 in the double-elimination tournament.
Conference fifth-place Indian River improved to 7-18 and 13-28, ending Eastern Florida's three-game winning streak in the process.
Broward College is fourth in the conference at 7-17 and 12-28.
First-place Palm Beach began the day at 18-7 and 33-11 while Miami Dade was 16-7 and 28-14.
The Titans visit Indian River in Fort Pierce at 4 p.m. Wednesday. They then visit Miami Dade in Kendall on Friday before hosting the Sharks at 1 p.m. Saturday.
They finish the regular season with a Tuesday-Wednesday home-and-home series with Palm Beach, hosting the Panthers at 5 p.m. Wednesday in a game to be telecast live on WEFS-TV and streamed live at www.efsctitans.com
Admission is free.
The FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Tournament will be held May 5-10 in Lakeland.