Indians use big innings to defeat Pensacola
Chipola defeated the Pirates on Tuesday, 10-5, in the first of a four game Panhandle Conference series.
Pensacola took an early 1-0 lead in Tuesday's Panhandle Conference game between the Indians and Pirates but a grand slam off the bat off Zac Rice in the second inning propelled Chipola to a 10-5 win on the road.
The Pirates took advantage of an error by the Indians in the first inning to get out in front after the Indians had failed to score in the top half of the inning despite Matthew Garcia reaching on a lead-off walk.
In the second inning, Chipola would load the bases with one out on back to back singles by Alfonso Villalobos and Matthew Corlew and a walk to Jozsef Rohrbacher. With two strikes, Rice hit the ball over the center field wall to put the Indians up 4-1.
The Indians would load the bases again in the third after Cameron Gray led off with a single and Mark Black and Alfonso Villalobos reached on walks. A Matthew Corlew single to center scored Gray and Black. Zac Rice then drove in his fifth run of the game to extend the Indians' lead to 7-1.
After Matthew Garcia reached on an error to start the top of the fourth, Paxton Tomaini singled to put runners on first and third. Cameron Gray drove in Garcia on a sacrifice fly to center. With two outs, Alfonso Villalobos singled to score Tomaini as the Indians led 9-1.
For the third consecutive inning, the Indians would get their lead-off batter on base when Joszef Rohrbacher singled to right. After Zac Rice reached on a walk, Matthew Garcia's ground ball would put runners on first and third with one out. Paxton Tomaini drove in Rice on a sacrifice fly, to make the score 10-1.
The Pirates would answer in the bottom of the fifth inning, following two singles with one out, a three run homerun would cut the deficit to 10-4.
After loading the bases in the bottom of the ninth, the Pirates scored one run on a sacrifice fly. With one out, Cedric De Grandpre ended the rally securing the final two outs of the game.
Andrew Baker collected the win to make his record 6-0 on the season while striking out seven batters through six innnigs.
Matthew Corlew finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs.
Alfonso Villalobos was 2-for-4 with an RBi.
The Indians will face Pensacola State for this week's conference series. Chipola will travel to Pensacola on Thursday for nine innings games starting at 5 PM. On Saturday, the Indians will host Pensacola at home for a double header starting at 1 PM.