Baseball team earns a split with Polk State College
The Eastern Florida State College baseball team had a historic day at Bruce Bochy Field.
Starting pitcher Kenneth Robinson did not allow a hit over seven innings, recording the first no-hitter in the past 25 seasons for the Titans.
Polk State College would capitalize on two Titans errors to edge the Titans in a pitching duel 2-1 in Game 1. The Titans would win Game 2 5-2 to split the doubleheader with the Eagles.
Robinson walked the lead-off hitter Roberto Odor in the top of the first, he went to third on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Damion Kenearly. Robinson would strike out the next two hitters to end the first inning.
The right-hander would walk two in the second but strike out two in the second inning. After that, Robinson would retire the next 13 hitters.
Meanwhile the Titans offense would tie the game in the bottom of the second inning as Laheim Bell hit a double down the right field line and scored on Kevin Smith's single to tie the game 1-1.
Polk State College starting pitcher Evan Koehler was also really sharp, striking out five hitters in six innings.
Eastern Florida State College had a couple of chances to score but would hit several balls hard right at defenders.
Still 1-1 in the top of the seventh inning, Liam O'Neil reached on an error to start the inning. A walk put hitters on first and second, then a nice sacrifice bunt led to the run on a groundout.
Robinson finished with seven strikeouts. Bell had two of the team's four hits in the game.
In Game 2, Polk State College would get on the board first, scoring twice in the second inning off starter Zaylen Perry.
Perry, who was returning from an injury, pitched two innings, striking out two. Anthony Cordero came into the game in the third inning and struck out two of the three hitters he faced in a 1-2-3 third.
The Titans would get the offense going in the bottom of the third inning as they would bat around in the inning. Kevin Smith got things started, singling and stole second and third base. He would score the first run of the game. Then Carlos Cordero and Ryan Cerrone would score on an Adrian Dominguez single to take the lead. Dominguez would later score to give the Titans a 4-2 lead.
They would add a run in the sixth inning as Luke Lambert walked and would later score on Smith's single.
Cordero would retire 11 in a row until O'Neil's double in the sixth. Evan Wainman would single but Cordero would get the strikeout to end the threat. It was one of the few opportunities Polk State College had against the right-hander who threw a career-high seven innings in the win.
Cordero struck out a career-high nine in the game as he would finish the game for the Titans.
Eastern Florida State College is now 11-13 in the conference and 20-20-1 overall. The Titans will host Daytona State College on Thursday in the first of a three-game series. Thursday's game will start at 3 p.m. and be shown live on WEFS-TV which is channel channel 9 or 455 on Spectrum, 68 on DirecTV, 30 on Dish and 68 on AT&T Uverse. The game can also be seen live online at the EFSC Titans YouTube page.