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Highlands Today

St. Petersburg College Edges South Florida

Highlands Today file photo

Chaz Abeln allowed two hits into the seventh inning of SFCC's 12-11 loss to St. Petersburg College on Friday.

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By MARK PINSON

Highlands Today

Published: March 15, 2009

AVON PARK - Free passes led to a painful defeat for the South Florida Community College baseball team on Friday night.

SFCC pitchers allowed 11 St. Petersburg College hitters to reach first base either by walk or hit batter and the Titans hung on to defeat the Panthers by a score of 12-11 in a Suncoast Conference game.

The loss dropped South Florida to 20-11 overall and 1-4 in conference play.

"We really didn't pitch that poorly," said Panther coach Rick Hitt. "Chaz Abeln allowed two hits into the seventh inning and then things got away from us."

Jerry Neufang clubbed his team-leading 11th home run to give the Panthers a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning.

The Titans rallied behind walks and some Panther miscues to take an 11-4 lead in the top of the seventh inning.

South Florida refused to quit and stormed back to score seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the contest at 11.

"I'm proud of the guys because they went to the plate with a purpose and we battled back against a good team," said Hitt.

St. Petersburg took the lead in the top of the ninth inning on a bloop RBI-single and the Panthers went in order in the bottom of the frame.

"It's a tough loss," said Hitt. "We left a small village on base in the early innings and even though we scored eleven runs, we left 13 men on base for the game.

"We're doing enough to get things started, but we're not doing enough to complete the job."

South Florida is back on the diamond on Monday with a conference road game at Polk Community College and then the Panthers host Polk on Wednesday.

"Every team hits a rough patch sometime during the season," Hitt said. "We've hit ours and we just need to get back to executing and playing smart and we'll be fine. There is a lot of baseball to be played and we just have to stay positive."

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com.

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