Baseball team falls short against No. 17 Northwest Florida

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team lost a tight game with No. 17 Northwest Florida State College Friday in the season opener in Sarasota.

The Titans held a lead into the eighth inning, but Northwest Florida State College struck for two runs in the eighth and then three more in the ninth for the 7-4 victory at the State College of Florida-Manatee baseball complex.

Northwest Florida State College hit solo home runs in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead. But the Titans would tie the game in the fourth inning Carlos Cordero reached base and then Wilfredo Maldonado ripped a double to put runners on second and third. With two outs, Zach Taylor hit a two-run single to tie the game 2-2.

Gabriel Delvalle relieved starting pitcher KC Swords in the fifth inning and held the Raiders offense in check for the next three innings, retiring nine of the 11 hitters he faces, striking out four.

The offense gave him the lead in the seventh inning as Zach Taylor reached on an overthrow and advanced to second. With one out Jacob Vermeire ripped a double that scored Taylor and gave the Titans a 3-2 lead.

Eastern Florida State College would extend the lead to 4-2 in the eighth inning as Cordero singled and ran his way to third. He would score easily on an Adrian Dominguez single.

Northwest Florida's Blake Cavill walked to start the eighth inning and Alex Urban hit a triple to cut the lead to 4-3. Cavill would score the tying run on a sacrifice fly.

All tied up in the ninth inning, it looked as if the game would go into extra innings but with two outs and a runner on first, a high throw across the infield led to a swipe tag and the runner was ruled safe. Cavill came up and hit a walk-off home run.

Cordero finished with two hits in the game.

The Titans, who are 0-1, will be back in action Saturday in Sarasota against Gulf Coast State College. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the State College of Florida-Manatee.