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Panthers Sweep Past Spartans In Doubleheader

Brian Gjurgevich/Highlands Today

SFCC's Matt Fuglesang has been a consistent contributor to the Panther offense this season.

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Highlands Today Staff Report

Published: March 2, 2009

AVON PARK - The South Florida Community College baseball team continued to tear the cover off the ball in Saturday's doubleheader sweep of the Tampa University B team.

Catcher Jerry Neufang smacked his nation-leading ninth home run, Austin Gaines added his eighth of the season and Ryan Williams blasted a pair of long balls as the Panthers swept the Spartans by scores of 12-6 and 3-2.

Sophomore hurler and former Avon Park standout Johnny Sedlock picked up the win in the first game with seven strong innings and the crafty left-hander struck out eight.

"Johnny threw real well and we swung the bats well," said SFCC coach Rick Hitt. "We had solid at-bats and did a good job of putting the ball in play."

Former Sebring star Chaz Abeln threw seven strong innings and struck out six to earn the win in the second game.

Tampa tied the game in the top of the seventh inning, but South Florida rallied to load the bases to bring up Williams, who already had two homers to his credit.

The Spartan pitcher was so unnerved by the sight of Williams, another Sebring standout, that he hit Williams with a pitch to force in the winning run.

"We made a couple of mistakes on the bases and in the field that allowed Tampa to get back in the game," said Hitt. "We've gotten a little sloppy lately and we've got to get that cleaned up."

The pair of wins improved the sixth-ranked Panthers to an impressive 17-6 on the season with games at Tampa University tonight and a home game on Wednesday against Siena Heights (Michigan).

SFCC opens its conference schedule with a home game against Pasco-Hernando CC on Friday night at Panther Field.

"We've gotten off to a good start to the season," said Hitt. "But we're still a work in progress because we can improve in every part of the game.

"We want to keep playing well and have some momentum going into our conference opener on Friday."

SFCC SOFTBALL: SFCC 5, Seminole 4; Seminole 2, SFCC 1

SANFORD - Freshman pitcher Breanna Beckel threw eight innings of solid ball and the South Florida Community College softball team pushed across a run in extra innings to beat Seminole CC 5-4 in Saturday's first game of a doubleheader.

"Breanna pitched a great game for us," said Panther coach Carlos Falla. "She had been out about a week with a sore hand and she came back and gave us an outstanding effort."

Sophomore Megan Randolph hit a home run to power the SFCC attack.

"We played well in the field, got some timely hits and it was a good win against a quality team," said Falla.

The Panthers lost the second game 2-1.

"We made a couple of errors in the bottom of the first inning to give Seminole both of its runs," said Falla. "We waited until the fifth inning to get on the board and then we left some runners in scoring position.

"It was a tough loss, but Seminole is one of the better teams in the state and we played them down to the last pitch."

SFCC is now 10-14 on the season and the Panthers are off until they compete in the Polk CC tournament on Saturday and Sunday.

"The girls have the day off on Monday and then we're back on the practice field on Tuesday," Falla said. "We are getting better, but we still need to work on our consistency and execution."

The Highlands Today sports department can be reached at 863-386-5841 or sports@highlandstoday.com.

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