ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Palm Beach Atlantic baseball completed a three-game Sunshine State Conference sweep of Eckerd College on Saturday, as the 'Fish won 7-5 and 8-2 at the Turley Complex. The 'Fish now sit at 9-5 on the season and 3-0 in SSC play as Eckerd falls to 5-6 on the year and 0-3 in league play. The Sailfish will return to action at home on Tuesday, Feb. 27 after 11 straight games away from J. M. "Jake" Rubin Park. The 'Fish will host Florida Tech for a 6 p.m. start.
Game One: Palm Beach Atlantic 7, Eckerd 5
The Sailfish and Tritons were scoreless through four innings in the first game of the day, as both pitchers had escaped a few jams early to keep the game scoreless. The 'Fish scored two runs in the top of the fifth to take a lead, as Marcos Perez doubled home Sean Houck, who reached on a double of his own.
The Sailfish starter Sean Horner ran into some trouble of his own in the fifth, as he allowed three runs and had to be removed from the game. Horner struggled with command on the day, as he struck out nine Tritons but also walked seven. Horner was relieved by Lance Fry, who after allowing a couple of Horner's runners to score settled down to have a great outing.
Fry threw 3.2 innings in relief of Horner, and struck out seven batters of his own, while only allowing three hits and one run. Fry picked up his first win of the season in the 70 pitch outing.
The Sailfish entered the seventh trailing 3-2, but scored two runs on bases-loaded walks in the inning to take the lead. The 'Fish did more damage in the eighth, as Perez added another RBI double, and Jake Summey added an RBI single to extend the lead to 7-3.
It took four pitchers to get the final three outs for the 'Fish in the ninth inning, but Joey Hennessey came in and got a big strikeout to record his first save of the season.
Summey, Houck, and Perez all finished the game with two hits, while Houck came around to score three times.
Game Two: Palm Beach Atlantic 8, Eckerd 2
Palm Beach Atlantic completed the sweep of Eckerd in game three, as they used another solid pitching performance, this time from Johnnie Schneider. The right-hander threw 6.1 innings on Saturday, allowing just four hits and two early runs while striking out six batters to improve to 2-1 on the year.
The Sailfish scored first, as Danny Tufariello drove a double to left-center field in the second inning to plate Ryan Johnson with two outs. After Eckerd took the lead 2-1, Riley Herold tied the game with his fifth homer of the season in the fourth inning. Later in the fourth, Summey doubled to left field to score Tufariello and give the 'Fish a 3-2 lead.
The 3-2 score would remain until the seventh, where the 'Fish scored five runs and put the game out of reach for the Tritons. Johnson knocked in the first run with a single to right field with one out. Next up was Herold who also singled to right field driving in a run. After a Eddie Vicinanza sacrifice fly, Tufariello delivered the knock-out blow, a two-out two-run single to give the 'Fish an 8-2 lead.
Kyle Polaski, Blake Beyel, and Eli Bottenfield closed out the game on the mound with scoreless outings in relief of Schneider.
Summey and Tufariello finished with three hits each for the 'Fish, as Johnson and Herold added two-hit performances.
