Tech Crushes Titans in SSC Baseball Opener, 24-0
MELBOURNE, FL- The Florida Tech Panthers opened their 2006 Sunshine State Conference season with a blow-out win today versus rivals Eckerd College, 24-0.
Today’s shut-out proved to be the best offensive game the Panthers have played this season, smacking a combined 21 hits, eight for extra bases. The
Panthers have now outscored their opponents 94-11 in their six-game winning streak.
Senior Bryan Stanton (Merritt Island, Fla.) went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate and nailed his first homerun of the season, a two-run shot in the fourth
inning. He drove in four RBIs while scoring twice in the afternoon’s record breaking game.
Senior Devin Hopkins (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) drove in a game-high six runs.He went 3-for-5, hitting his first homer of the season in the sixth, a three-run
blast. Hopkins also scored four times on the day.
The Panthers tallied runs in every inning except the seventh. They started the game by putting two on the board in the first. Sophomore Nick Brennan
(Detroit, Mich.) led off the game with a double to left-center. The next batter, junior Steve Condotta (Mississauga, Canada), reached base on a fielding
error by the Tritons, advancing Brennan to third. After reaching second on an infield groundout, Devin Hopkins smacked a two-run single to center field.
Tech really opened it up in the second, scoring six runs in the second inning, all unearned. At the end of the inning the home team had accumulated five
hits making the Tritons pay dearly for two fielding errors.
The Panthers did not let up in the third, scoring two more runs. Steve Condotta whacked a one-out double to centerfield driving in Nick Brennan and Bryan
Stanton from second and third.
Florida Tech scored three runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, mounting a 19-0 lead. After being blanked in the seventh they came back to score
their final five runs in the eighth inning on six hits, leaving the bases loaded at the end of the inning.
Junior Will Lanier (Jacksonville, Fla.) also hit his first homerun of the season, a two-run shot in the eighth inning.
Tech’s pitching was near flawless today, holding the visitors to five hits and three walks. Senior Mike Succio Jr. (Melbourne, Fla.) won his fifth game of
the year, going six innings and allowing all five Triton hits. He walked three while striking out eight. He was relieved by freshman Justin Arsenault
(Camillus, N.Y.), who hurled a perfect seventh inning and struck out one. Freshman Jake Koch (Orlando, Fl.) finished the game for Tech, blanking the
visitors in the eighth and ninth innings while striking out two.
Tech improves their overall record to 14-6, and is now 1-0 in the SSC. The Tritons fall to 4-11, and open their conference play 0-1. The two teams meet
again tomorrow in a SSC double-header. First pitch of game one is scheduled for noon.
