TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (April 10, 2017) – Chipola College erased a six-run deficit and defeated Tallahassee Community College 16-6 in Panhandle Conference baseball on Monday at Eagle Field.
Tallahassee (23-20, 8-9 PC), who had won eight of 11 entering Monday’s game, remains two games back of second place Northwest Florida State College (10-7) but saw its lead over fourth-place Gulf Coast State College (7-10) trimmed to one game – the result of the Commodores’ 9-1 win over the Raiders.
Chipola (14-3), meanwhile, extended its lead atop the conference standings to four games with seven to play.
Early on, it was all Tallahassee. The Eagles belted three home runs off Chipola starter Riley Cabral and led 6-0 through three innings.
Myron Mebane started the scoring with a solo homer in the second. Later in the inning, Jordan Curtis hit a liner that deflected off the outstretched glove of third baseman Andrew Bechtold and rolled down the third base line, allowing Chris Hawkins to score all the way from first for a 2-0 lead.
One inning later, Tucker Rayburn and Aaron Haughton smacked two-run homers to give the Eagles and starter Alex Stobert a six-run cushion.
Chipola began chipping away in the fourth, scoring three runs to knock out Stobert, and tied the game in the fifth on Max Guzman’s three-run homer off reliever Jake Hunkiar – the first of three home runs by the Indians.
Chipola took its first lead in the sixth, scoring six runs to break the game open. Hunkiar, who took the loss for Tallahassee, started the inning but gave way to Octavio Marin after just two pitches. After back-to-back walks, Niko Leontarakis came on and eventually handed things off to Hawkins, who started the game at second base.
Bechtold homered during the seven-run inning and added another home run in the seventh. He finished 3-for-3 with four runs scored and four RBIs.
Curtis and Deyvid Silva were both 2-for-4 to lead Tallahassee at the plate.
The same two teams will play in Marianna at 5 p.m. eastern on Wednesday.
