WINTER PARK, Fla. (April 18, 2021) – The Rollins Tars and Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish split their two games played on Sunday afternoon at Alfond Stadium. The Tars took game one by a score of 6-4, while the earned their win 7-5 in game two.
Game One
The Rollins pitching staff did a magnificent job of getting themselves out of jams in the first game, stranding a total of ten runners. In the first, a double and a hit by pitch from Palm Beach Atlantic put two men on with no one out.
Tate Stone-Frisina was able to strap in and get the next three hitters to pop out to escape with no runs allowed. A pair of walks put two men on again in the second, but a weak groundout to first baseman
Jack Gonzalez ended that threat as well. The Tars were able to take the lead in bottom half after
Cameron Meehan doubled, and was promptly brought in by an RBI single from
Cody Oerther.
Austin Long took over on the mound in the third, and saw the bases load against him thanks to an error, single and walk. He was able to get Sebastian Salado to fly out to center to once again keep the Sailfish off the board. Palm Beach Atlantic finally put an unearned run across in the fourth on a Landen Morrison groundout to tie the game at one apiece.
The Tars were quick to respond thanks to a gorgeous
Sam LaFontaine squeeze bunt that scored Gonzalez, who had singled to lead off the inning to make the score 2-1.
The next three innings were dominated by Rollins reliever
Kyle Kramer, who only allowed three baserunners in his three frames. In the meantime, Rollins received some insurance in the fifth one an RBI single form
Luke Reidy and a sac fly from Gonzalez.
Steven Swift was called on to close things out in the eighth. He dialed up a 1-2-3 inning in the top half, and then watched his teammate
Cameron Meehan launch a no-doubter over the left field fence for a two more Tars runs, making it 6-1. Two walks and a three-run homer from Jake Roper in the top of the ninth made it interesting at 6-4, but Swift induced a pop up to the final batter to end the game and earn his third save of the year.
Kramer took the win for his middle relief effort with a final line of three innings, two hits, zero runs and one strikeout.
Parker Smith, Gonzalez, Meehan and Oerther each had two hits for Rollins.
Game Two
The Tars bats went cold in game two, as they only managed four hits in the game. Starter Jaylyn Whiethead suffered his first loss of the year after allowing a two-run home run to Tent Alley in the second inning. Behind the left arm of Drew Holwege, the Sailfish were able to stave off any sort of Tars attack as the score remained 2-0 through five innings.
The sixth inning was wild for both teams. In the top half, Palm Beach Atlantic pushed across four insurance runs on three hits, one of which was a three-run blast from Carlos Lara.
Michael Cullen entered the game and struck out two hitters to quell the threat before things got out of hand.
As the bottom of the sixth began, so did the rain. The umpire crew deemed the field playable, and the Tars took advantage.
Tyler Colson led things off with a walk, and moved to second on an
Adams Torres single. Two more walks went into the books as Santucci and Smith each earned free passes. After an infield fly made the first out, the Sailfish looked ot be out of things when Gonzalez ripped a ground ball right at the second baseman. However, he slipped on his throw to second, allowing all runners to advance. Meehan and LaFontaine then drew walks and drove in a run apiece to run the score to 6-4. Ruari Murphy was called on out of the bullpen and allowed a
Ryan Coleman sac fly to pull the Tars within one. With two men on,
Luke Reidy was called on to pinch-hit, but his sharply hit line drive was right at a fielder, ending the Tars threat.
The Sailfish got one back in the top of the seventh on a triple and a wild pitch to make it 7-5. The teams had to sit through a short lightning delay in the bottom of the ninth before play resumed. After
Nick Santucci reached on an infield single, Murphy made a fantastic play on a comebacker off the bat of
Eddie Ayala, catching the liner and doubling up Santucci to end the game.
With the split, Rollins now sits at 9-7 on the year, and 9-6 in SSC play. They have one more regular season series on the books, against Florida Tech on April 21-23. The game on Thursday, April 22 will be the last home game of the year for Rollins.
Stay tuned to RollinsSports.com for the latest schedule updates.
