Baseball team opens season 1-1 Friday at Prospect Select Spring Kickoff

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team went 1-1 on the first day of the Prospect Select Spring Kickoff on Friday at Bruce Bochy Field.

The Titans opened the tournament with an 11-8 victory over Pensacola State College and then lost to Cleveland Community College 7-0 in the final game of the day. The win was the first for interim head coach Mitchell Gallagher.

In the first game of the day, Pensacola State College scored twice in both the second and third innings and led 4-0 heading to the bottom of the third inning.

Ethan Askin led off the inning with a double, then Drew Gaskins walked and Jackson Wargo hit an infield single to load the bases. Chris Carroll stepped up and hit the first pitch he saw for a two-run single to cut the lead in half. With one out, Shane Thomas had an RBI single to cut the Pensacola State lead to 4-3.

Pensacola State College would score three times in the fourth and another run in the fifth to hold an 8-3 lead heading to the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Titans would send 13 hitters to the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring eight runs on seven hits in the inning. Richie Collazo came up with the bases loaded and crushed a double that scored three runs. Hutson Guinn, who had an RBI single earlier in the inning hit a two-run double to round out the scoring.

Iziah Santiago picked up the win in relief and Cade Ginder got the final six outs to pick up his first save of the season.

Thomas, Guinn, Askin and Jackson Wargo each had two hits in the win.

Cleveland Community College got off to a quick start and defeated Pensacola State College 8-3 in the second game of the day.

Wyatt McSwaim had a two-run single in the first inning and then another two runs scored on an infield single in the fourth inning. Tom Negron had three hits in the game with two runs scored and drove in two runs.

Cleveland Community College then faced the Titans in the final game of the day. The Yetis scored a run in the first and second innings to go up 2-0 as Tanner Britt hit an RBI single in the first and then Alex McKee hit a sacrifice fly in the second.

It would remain 2-0 until the sixth inning when the Yetis added a run. They would score four times in the seventh inning to pick up the 7-0 win.

Eastern Florida State College's Couper Gatch struck out six over three strong innings, allowing one run in relief of starter Parker Trowbridge who went three innings and allowed two runs, striking out three.

Omir Santos had two hits in the game for the Titans.

Eastern Florida State College will play a doubleheader with Pensacola State College on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. at Bruce Bochy Field. Each game will be seven innings and fans can watch the doubleheader live online at the EFSC Titans YouTube page.