LAKELAND, Fla. – Palm Beach Atlantic baseball split the Thursday double header against Florida Southern to secure their first series victory over the Mocs in their DII era. The Sailfish (21-20, 11-13 SSC) won the first game 2-1 in extra innings before dropping the second game to the Mocs (21-19, 7-14 SSC) by a score of 3-0.
Game 1: Palm Beach Atlantic 2, Florida Southern 1
Mitchell Carroll churned out another great pitching performance on the hill for the Sailfish after starting the second game of the series due to an early series start because of forecasted weather. Carroll did not let the change affect him as he pitched seven innings while giving up only four hits and one run while walking two and striking out nine.
The Sailfish used their normal one-two punch as Orsen Josephina came in to pitch the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings. Josephina was once again dominated allowing only three hits and no runs while allowing no walks and striking out nine. The performance would allow Josephina to pick up his second win of the year to put his record at 2-1 on the season.
The Sailfish scored both of their runs off singles with the first run coming in the fifth inning when Riley Herold hit a ball up the middle to bring around Brandon Seltzer to the plate.
The go-ahead run and eventually the winning run scored when Sean Houck singled off Leo Rodriguez to drive in Ramon Machado from second base. This run was the first run allowed by Rodriguez this season.
Herold and Houck each had multi-hit games for the Sailfish with two knocks apiece while Marcos Perez had the only other hit in the game.
Game 2: Florida Southern 3, Palm Beach Atlantic 0
The second game of the double header was all Mocs as the Sailfish offense went quiet due to junior J.J. Niekro, son of Joe Niekro and nephew of Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, who threw five innings giving up only two hits, no runs, and striking out four. Reliever Carson King closed the door in his four innings of work giving up two hits and zero runs to pick up the same.
Christian Denton started the game for the 'Fish going 4.1 innings giving up six hits and one earned run before handing the ball off to Joey Hennessey who pitched 2.2 innings giving up two hits and one run while walking three. Denton picked up the tough-luck loss putting him at 3-5 on the season.
Of the four PBA hits Derek Schwimer was responsible for two of them while Danny Tufariello and Connor Rowland had the other two.
Palm Beach Atlantic will return to action in a midweek game on April 23 in Fort Lauderdale to take on Nova Southeastern. The game is scheduled to begin a 6 p.m.
