ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.- The Palm Beach Atlantic baseball team beat Eckerd College by a score of 6-5 on Saturday night. The Sailfish (6-18) snapped their six-game losing streak and have now won their second conference game. 

This was the first matchup of the season between the Tritons and the 'Fish. Both teams were scoreless in the first inning, but in the top of the second, the Sailfish got rolling. Nate Housen opened up the top of the second with a homer and give PBA a 1-0 lead. Patrick Rakes followed shortly after with a walk, and Sean Williams doubled to send Rakes to third. Kody Kelly then grounded out to first for an RBI, driving in Rakes to put the 'Fish up 2-0.

The score going into the top of the third remained 2-0 in favor of the 'Fish after the Tritons could not respond with any runs. That gave the PBA even more confidence to start the inning, which led to singles by Matthew Faranda, Matty Warren, and Housen to get the bases loaded. The next play, Stanton Leuthner got himself an RBI after he reached on a fielder's choice to shortstop, which got Housen out at second but allowed Faranda to make it home and make it a 3-0 lead.  

Both teams didn't score in the fourth inning, but in the fifth inning, terror struck for the Sailfish. After not being able to extend their lead even more, the Sailfish gave up four runs to the Tritons in the bottom of the fifth. Daniel Foster was the starting pitcher for the game and pitched the first 4.2 innings until he was replaced by Nolan Smoot midway through the inning. Foster allowed eight hits, four runs in his time on the mound, but did manage to have three strikeouts. 

In the top of the sixth, Housen opened up the inning with another home run and tied the game at 4-4. Leuthner and Rakes followed with singles of their own and advanced after Williams grounded out to third. With Leuthner and Rakes on second and third, Kelly hit a sacrifice fly to send Leuthner home and gain the RBI. That put the Sailfish up 5-4 going into the seventh inning.

The 'Fish came out firing in the top of the seventh and increased their lead to 6-4 over the Tritons. That was thanks to Faranda getting walked, then advancing to second on a wild pitch, followed by an advance to third after Warren grounded out to second. Housen played cleanup once again, and after a single through the right side, he got his third RBI of the game. The 'Fish didn't allow a score for Eckerd in the bottom of the seventh, but Coach Bottenfield made another pitching change, going with A.J. Prendergast to take over for Smoot. Smooth pitched two innings and allowed five hits, and did not allow any runs. Smoot also had two strikeouts to go with his line.

Eckerd cut the lead to one in the bottom of the eighth, and that would lead Coach Bottenfield field to make another pitching change replacing Prendergast with Isaac Beebe. Prendergast only pitched one inning and allowed two hits, a run, and also had an error. Though the Tritons had two on base, the 'Fish closed out the inning with a 6-5 lead.

The Sailfish did not score any runs in the inning, but all they had to do was keep the Tritons scoreless. That they did after Beebe had a clutch performance at the mound in his short time there. Beebe closed the game with no hits or runs allowed, two strikeouts, and five bats faced. Smoot was credited the win, making it his first win as a pitcher this season.

The series will continue with a double header on Sunday and the games will be played at 12 & 3 p.m. at Eckerd.