SFCC Baseball Blasts Dundalk

This year's edition of the South Florida Community College baseball team wasn't supposed to have the power of last year's squad.

But the early-season power surge of catcher Jerry Neufang and infielder Austin Gaines has the Panthers offense in high gear.

Neufang clubbed his nation-leading eighth home run, Gaines added his seventh and Ryan Williams added a three-run shot to lead SFCC to a 14-4 win over CCBC/Dundalk (Maryland) on Friday night.

"As a team we haven't hit a lot of home runs, but we've had a couple of guys that have," said Panther coach Rick Hitt.

"I certainly don't mind the power, as long as we show we can play small-ball and manufacture runs which is what you have to do against quality pitching."

Freshman right-hander Matt Fuglesang picked up the win to improve to 4-0 on the season by striking out 12 in 6 2/3 innings.

"Matt threw the ball very well and had a solid outing for us," said Hitt.

Freshman Thomas Sicking continued his torrid hitting by going 4-for-5 with a solo homer.

The win improved the sixth-ranked Panthers to 15-6 on the season, which begins their

conference schedule on Friday with a home game against Pasco CC.

"I like where we're at as a team," said Hitt. "We've been a little sloppy lately, but we're going to clean that up and we're looking forward to the conference games beginning."

SOFTBALL: SFCC 15, Lake Sumter 1; SFCC 8, Lake Sumter 5

LEESBURG - The South Florida Community College softball team woke up from its offensive malaise in Friday night's doubleheader against Lake Sumter CC.

The Panthers erupted in the first game for a 15-1 win and then held on for an 8-5 victory in the nightcap.

"We hit the ball well as a team," said SFCC coach Carlos Falla. "It was a good pair of wins for us and should give us a shot of confidence heading into our conference schedule.

"We played like we're capable of and we just need to keep it going."

Freshman right-hander Kendra Wellnitz picked up the win in the first game, Kristin Benton started the second game and Breanna Beckel came in to close out the contest.

"All three girls gave us outstanding effort's, said Falla. "We had good pitching, timely hitting and we really needed this kind of performance."