Baseball team holds off Seminole for conference game

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team picked up a big conference win in dramatic fashion Thursday at Bruce Bochy Field.

The Titans scored twice in the eighth inning to take a 9-6 lead and held on for the 9-8 win over Seminole State College. The Raiders scored twice in the top of the ninth inning and loaded the bases with two outs and leadoff hitter Julio Lluberes up to bat.

Couper Gatch came into the game and threw three straight strikes to get the strikeout and pick up the save.

Eastern Florida State College scored twice in the bottom of the first inning as Andrew Prieto had an RBI single scoring Chris Carroll and then Hutson Guinn hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

Enzo Ercole had a two-run single in the second inning to tie the game 2-2. Juan Orozco led off the third inning with a solo home run to give the Raiders a 3-2 lead.

The Titans came right back in the bottom of the third inning scoring twice as Bryce Jackson hit a sacrifice fly and then Guinn hit an RBI single to give the Titans a 4-3 lead.

Prieto came up and ripped a two-run double to give the Titans a 6-3 lead in the fourth inning.

It stayed that way until the sixth inning when Seminole State's Lluberes hit a two-run home run and then Alejandro Abreut hit a solo home run to tie the game 6-6.

Eastern Florida State College took the lead in the seventh inning when Jackson walked and went to third on an errant throw on a pickoff throw. He would later score on Guinn's RBI single.

The Titans extended the lead in the eighth inning when Prieto hit an RBI single and then Omir Santos scored on a Jackson groundball.

Prieto finished with four hits, driving in four runs and scoring a run in the game while Guinn had two hits and drove in three runs. Santos scored three times.

Eastern Florida State College will travel to Seminole State College for a conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.