SFCC falters late in surprising loss

Luck was not on the SFCC baseball team's side Wednesday as the Panthers suffered an agonizing defeat to Indian River State College at Panther Field.

After an explosive start, in which SFCC led 10-3 through the first four innings, the Panthers slowly let their lead slip away before finally losing 15-11.

"I went over to the dugout in the third inning and we were up seven runs, and the wind was blowing 20 miles an hour to right field," SFCC coach Rick Hitt said, "and with this field, there is no lead that is safe. And I reminded the guys to make sure you play every pitch to the last pitch, and we didn't do that."

Everything seemed to be going SFCC's way early on as it jumped out to an early lead with seven runs in the first inning.

Tom Sicking got things started for the Panthers with a double in his first at-bat, and then was driven home by Kyle Jackson on a hard-hit single down the first-base line.

Taed Moses was able to follow that up with another single to give the Panthers runners on first and second.

Chris Torres came to the plate next and hit a shallow blooper into left field, which the left fielder was not able to handle, allowing Jackson to score from second and increase the Panthers' lead.

The Panthers were then able to load the bases up for Karson Kravec, who hit a line-drive single up the middle to score two more runs.

Indian River promptly loaded the bases again and walked a runner home before SFCC capped off the inning with a two-RBI single by Greg Smith.

This was the only inning that seemed to go well for SFCC, though.

The Panthers were unable to keep up their offensive pace the rest of the game, and weak pitching allowed Indian River to get back in the game.

Down 10-3 in the top of the fifth, Indian River scored four runs to trim its deficit to 10-7.

The backbreaker came in the seventh inning, when Indian River, down 11-7, scored six runs, capped by a three-run homer by Kyle Metz to put Indian River in the lead for good.

After losing the lead on the home run by Metz, there was still hope for the Panthers, but they were unable to grab momentum back from Indian River.

Going into the bottom of the ninth inning, down 15-11, the Panthers had the bases loaded with the tying run at the plate. But, alas, they were unable to do anything with the opportunity.

"You're never out of the game," Hitt said. "It (the home run) obviously wasn't any help, though. We just weren't able to grab the momentum back."

Even though the defeat was tough to handle for the Panthers, Hitt gave credit where credit was due.

"They ran us down and they did a great job," Hitt said. "They got 18 hits. Our pitchers threw it over the middle of the plate instead of competing with all of their stuff and unfortunately they came back and got us."

Alex Young started the game for the Panthers and pitched well through the first four innings, giving up three runs before looking shaky in fifth, when he gave up two more runs.

Blake Holliday, who came on in relief in the 7th inning was credited as the losing pitcher for the Panthers after he pitched 1 and 1/3 inning giving up 4 hits and 2 earned runs.

Kyle Jackson had a strong day at the plate for SFCC going 2-for-4 with two walks, a home run and two RBIs.

SFCC will be back in action Friday as they take on Broward College at 6 p.m. at Panther Field.