TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 17, 2020) – Tallahassee Community College's baseball team snapped a two-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over NJCAA No. 15/Region 8 No. 3 Santa Fe College on Monday evening at Eagle Field.
Tallahassee is now 8-6 on the season, and the win was No. 992 for head coach Mike McLeod. Santa Fe fell to 12-4.
Clinging to the one-run lead, Tallahassee handed the ball to closer Nolan Daniel in the ninth, who promptly struck out the first two batters. A two-out walk, however, kept the Saints alive, and they were poised to have the go-ahead run on base when J.C. Lovelace singled to left. Instead, pinch runner Chase DeMichele tried taking third on the hit and was thrown out by left fielder Connor Rakow who fired a perfect one-hopper to third baseman Corey Yawn, ending the game.
Daniel picked up his third save and preserved the win for Dilan Lawson (1-1), who pitched into the sixth before handing a 2-0 lead to Allen Roulette following a leadoff walk to Lovelace.
Lovelace eventually scored in the sixth to cut the Eagles' lead in half but they got the run back in the bottom half on an RBI-single from Bryson Kirksey.
Santa Fe answered with one run in the seventh and was in position for an even bigger inning after the first two batters reached base and signaled the end of Roulette's evening.
Leighton Alley gave up a run-scoring single and, following a fielder's choice, saw the Saints move the tying run to third with just one out. But Alley bore down and struck out Lovelace then induced Coy Phillips into an inning-ending pop up to Yawn in foul territory.
Santa Fe stranded ten runners in the game.
Tallahassee got on the board with two runs in the second, doing all of its damage with two out and none on.
Orlando Adams drew a walk, advanced to second on Julian Barcelo's single and scored on Andrew Fernandez' single to center. Barcelo advanced to third on the hit, which proved valuable when Saints starter Devin Hemenway was called for a balk during the next at-bat, allowing him to score the second run of the inning.
Tallahassee managed only seven hits, all coming from the 5-9 hitters in the batting order. Yawn and Kirksey had two hits each.
Tallahassee will travel to South Georgia State on Wednesday for a 4 p.m. first pitch.
