Panthers nip Conquistadors

The South Florida Community College baseball team surrendered 10 walks and hit two batters in Monday night's Suncoast Conference road game against Pasco-Hernando College.

That kind of wildness usually results in a loss, but the Panthers were able to put the game in the win column after Tom Sicking lashed a one-out double in the top of the eighth inning to score Greg Smith from first base with the eventual winning run in a 2-1 victory.

Left-hander Mike Dixon tossed two scoreless innings of relief to pick up the win.

The surprising win improved South Florida Community College to 15-11 overall and 2-1 in Suncoast Conference play.

"I don't recall seeing a linescore like that in some time," said veteran SFCC baseball coach Rick Hitt. "When you issue 12 freebies and give up a run in the first inning it usually doesn't result in a win.

"We pitched out of trouble all game, turned four double plays and it was a good win for us on the road."

South Florida has won three of its first four conference games with a combination of solid pitching and timely hitting.

"We're playing well in all areas of the game," Hitt said. "We're winning, but we are still looking to play our best baseball.

"This is a very competitive conference and we've got a lot of baseball in front of us."

South Florida Community College was supposed to play at Central Florida Community College (Ocala) on Friday night, but the contest was postponed due to rain.

The Panthers traveled to Gainesville on Saturday and took on a talented Santa Fe Community College squad in a doubleheader.

South Florida outslugged Santa Fe by a score of 10-9 in the first game as Ethan Lovell went 2-for-3 with a double, Sicking had two hits, Tead Moses contributed two hits and Brett Clements reached base twice, including a double.

"This was a good game to win and was a really good effort from our guys," Hitt said. "To beat Santa Fe, which is an outstanding club, on the road is quite an accomplishment."

South Florida right-hander Adam Simmons, who has signed to play at FSU in September, got the start and tossed two sharp innings before losing command of his pitches.

Santa Fe took a 9-6 lead into the top of the sixth inning before SFCC stormed back to take the lead with a four-run outburst.

Lovell led the way for the Panthers with four hits and scored three runs, while Moses had three hits and Chris Torres had a key three-run homer.

Former Avon Park standout Corey Topa earned the win with 1.2 innings of relief and hard-throwing Blake Holliday picked up the save with two scoreless innings.

"We're swinging the bats well and this was the fifth game in a row we've had double-digit hits," said Hitt. "It was great to see our hitters bounce back to put up four runs in the sixth inning.

"Corey had a solid outing to keep us in the game and Blake finished strong."

Santa Fe bounced back to win the second game by a score of 7-5 as SFCC left a number of men on base in scoring position.

Torres went 2-for-3, Lovell had a pair of hits and Sicking went 2-for-4 and scored two runs in the losing effort.

"We left 12 men on base, seven in scoring position with less than two outs and that came back to haunt us," Hitt said. "We weren't as efficient scoring runs as we were in the first game and this shows that we have a lot to improve on.

"We're working hard and we need to improve our consistency in all areas of the game if we want to reach our full potential as a team."

South Florida hosts Suncoast Conference rival St. Petersburg College at 6 tonight at Panther Field.