WINTER PARK, Fla. (April 22, 2021) - The Rollins Tars dropped the first game of their final series of the season, losing to the Florida Tech Panthers 4-1 on Thursday night at Alfond Stadium.
The two teams took a vastly different approach to how they were going to pitch in this one. Florida Tech called on their ace, Boris Villa, while Rollins went with a little Johnny Wholestaff action.
Timmy Tierney drew the first inning for the Tars, and left a runner stranded on second to escape a mini jam. After
Adams Torres walked and stole second, Villa returned the favor by leaving him out there to end the first.
Austin Long and
Carson Hauben then worked the second and third innings, respectively, for Rollins by putting the Panthers down in order.
In the top of the fourth,
Michael Cullen induced a quick pair of pop outs, but ran into trouble when he left a ball over the plate that was sent over the left field fence by Paul Castillo to give Florida Tech a 1-0 lead. Villa shut down the Tars for the fourth straight inning to maintain the advantage. In the fifth,
Jack Tomich went three up, three down against the Panthers to keep the Tars close. The offense finally broke through in the bottom half of the frame.
Tyler Colson led off with a walk, and stole second base. He would then move to third on a heads up base running play, waiting for the third baseman to fire the ball to first on a grounder before sliding in safely. With two outs,
Luke Reidy came through with a frozen rope to center field to score Colson and tie the game.
After
Kyle Kramer fanned two of the three batters he faced, Villa turned in his final inning in the bottom of the sixth with another zero. Florida Tech was able to regain the lead in the top of the seventh when
Kyle Bachle walked a pair of batters. After a pitching change, Hayden Kimball sent a pop fly to center that was deep enough to score Brett Parrish to make it 2-1.
Florida Tech extended the lead to 4-1 in the eighth with a bases loaded hit by pitch and a bases loaded walk. The Tars made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases for
Jack Gonzalez. However, a groundout squashed the comeback attempt and ended the game.
A total of ten Rollins pitchers saw time on the mound in this one.
Jared Herron posted three strikeouts in 1.2 innings. On offense, Reidy was able to reach three times with a hit and two walks.
The series will wrap on Friday afternoon in Melbourne with a doubleheader. The first game will start at 3:00 pm. Fans can follow Tars baseball season long at RollinsSports.com. You can also stay up-to-date on the latest #TARnation news by following Rollins Sports on
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