Baseball team rallies to win in nine innings, falls in Game 2

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team split a doubleheader at Daytona State College on Saturday.

The Titans rallied back and won the first game in extra innings, winning 7-4 in nine innings but a three-run home run in the second game gave Daytona State College a 4-1 win.

In Game 1, the Titans trailed 3-0 with one out in the sixth inning when they would load the bases and after Daytona State College got the second out, the Titans put together a rally to tie the game. Luke Lambert hit a two-run single to make it 3-2 and then Wayne Wilkerson walked to load the bases once again. Jake Cooper hit a two-run single and the Titans had the lead.

Up 4-3, Daytona State College would tie the game in the top of the seventh inning and send the game to extra innings.

In the ninth inning, Kevin Smith singled with one out, then with two outs Carlos Cordero walked. Ryan Cerrone stepped up and hit a full count pitch for an RBI single to give the Titans a 5-4 lead. Then Hector Mangual came up and walked to load the bases. Adrian Dominguez came through with a two-run single and the Titans were up 7-4.

Rhys Francis picked up the win with a scoreless ninth inning. Cerrone had two hits and scored twice in the win.

In Game 2, the Titans took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Mangual drove in Cerrone who had doubled. But Daytona State College would tie the game in the bottom of the third inning and took the lead on a three-run home run by Nate Cannizarro.

The Titans, who are 12-15 in the Citrus Conference, will travel to the State College of Florida, Manatee on Thursday for the first of a three-game series. Eastern Florida State College will be back home next Saturday for a doubleheader with SCF-Manatee beginning at 1 p.m. Admission is free to games at Bruce Bochy Field and the games will be shown live online at the EFSC Titans YouTube page.