TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 26, 2016) – NJCAA Region 8 No. 1 Tallahassee Community College picked up a 3-1 win over NJCAA No. 5 Chattahoochee Valley (Ala.) Community College on Friday evening in game one of the teams’ three-game series.
Tallahassee won for the third time against Chattahoochee Valley this season, improving to 18-3 overall. The Pirates, meanwhile, dropped to 7-5-1.
The low-scoring affair had much to do with starting pitchers Craig Olson (Tallahassee) and Chase Burks (Chattahoochee Valley), who went toe to toe for six innings.
Olson, who came within two outs of no-hitting the Pirates on January 29, scattered five hits and walked one batter in 7.1 innings. Burks allowed only three hits and walked one in six innings of work before handing a 1-all tie off to the Pirates’ bullpen.
With Burks out of the game, Tallahassee manufactured two runs in the seventh.
Jelani Clarington hit leadoff batter Kyle Taddeo then, after Kyle Cavanaugh flied out to right, allowed a single to Deyvid Silva and walked Bret Maxwell to load the bases and bring on the second pitcher of the inning, J.D. Brown.
Brown walked Mac Wilson to plate Taddeo with what proved to be the winning run. The next batter, Ethan Crout, hit what looked to be an inning-ending double play but shortstop Jayson Cook mishandled the toss from second baseman A.J. Willoughby, allowing Silva to score from third and give the Eagles a 3-1 lead.
Olson trotted back out to start the eighth but gave way to Brooks Buckler following a one-out single. Buckler promptly picked up a pair of strikeouts to end the inning and strand a runner in scoring position.
After striking out his third batter to start the ninth, Buckler gave up a single then hit a batter to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. But Hill hit a grounder to Wilson, who stepped on the bag at third, spun and threw a dart to first base to complete the game-ending double play.
Olson emerged with the victory to improve to 3-0 while Buckler picked up his second save.
Tallahassee got on the board first with a run in the second.
Leadoff batter Josh Nothdorft doubled to deep left-center and wound up on third when centerfielder Brandon Hill bobbled the ball on the warning track. He scored on Taddeo’s RBI-ground out to short.
The teams will continue their weekend series at 2 p.m. Saturday.
---Courtesy: TCC Athletics---
