Baseball team falls to St. Petersburg College

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team lost the first game of a three-game series with St. Petersburg College on Thursday evening.

The Titans held a 4-1 lead after five innings but St. Petersburg rallied for two runs in the sixth and scored again in the eighth to tie the game 4-4. With two outs in the top of the ninth, St. Petersburg would score three times to pick up the 7-4 win.

The game started an hour late due St. Petersburg bus issues but once they got to Bruce Bochy Field, they played one of their best games of the season.

Starting pitcher Owen Simmons had another quality start for the Titans, going seven solid innings with five strikeouts.

Kevin Smith walked in the third inning and went to third on an errant throw and then beat the throw home to score the first run. Tied 1-1 in the fourth, Jeff Davis put down a perfect bunt and beat the throw for an infield single, stole second base and the throw went into centerfield. He went to third and beat the throw home to score. In the fifth inning Ryan Cerrone hit a two-run single to give the Titans a 4-1 lead.

Eastern Florida State College was led by Bo Tabola who had two hits as the Titans are now 9-10 in the Citrus Conference.

St. Petersburgh won for the first time in 19 games and the teams will play a doubleheader Saturday in St. Petersburg beginning at 1 p.m.