MELBOURNE, Fla. (April 23, 2021) - The Rollins Tars lost their final two scheduled games of the season to the Florida Tech Panthers on Friday. They lost game one by a score of 10-3, and game two by a 7-0 final.
Game One
Steven Swift drew his first start of the season for Rollins, with Florida Tech countering in the form of Mitchell Harding. After a clean first for both teams, the Panthers got on the board in the second with an RBI groundout from Blaise Maris. They added another run in the third when Jakob Newton singled in Raul Quintero to make it 2-0. The Tars got one back in the fourth courtesy of a
Sam LaFontaine single that brought home
Jack Gonzalez. Unfortunately, the Panthers would score for a third straight inning in the bottom half when a base hit from Maris scored Brett Parrish to make it 3-1.
Rollins fought back in the fifth.
Cameron Meehan led off with a walk, and moved to second on a
Ryan Coleman single. After a pitching change,
Luke Reidy drove in Meehan with a base knock. A walk and two outs followed, leaving LaFontaine up with the bases loaded and two out. The senior brought in the tying run the hard way, wearing a pitch to force in Coleman and tie the game. The momentum was quickly shut down thought as Tech was once again able to respond with a pair of runs to take a 5-3 lead. Then, in the seventh, they added five runs on only one hit as the Tars committed two errors, walked two, hit a batter, and threw a wild pitch.
Reidy had a nice day at the plate, going 3-4 with an RBI and a walk. Gonzalez also had two hits, and LaFontaine chipped in two RBI.
Game Two
The second game of the twinbill was a bit of a pitcher's duel between
Tate Stone-Frisina and Justin Lorenz. Both teams stranded a runner in the first, and then Rollins repreated the feat in the second. Tech was able to bring their guy home on their second attempt, however, as a Hayden Kimball sac fly scored Brett Parrish. The run was unearned against Stone-Frisina due to an error earlier in the inning.
From there, both offenses struggled to get anything going. The third, fourth, and fifth innings were all scoreless. Rollins put a base runner on in each inning, but could not come through with a big hit to score a run. A pitching change before the sixth ended Stone-Frisina's day, and gave Flordia Tech all the momentum they would need. The Panthers would go on to strike for six runs in the frame on five hits and a walk, putting the game out of reach at 7-0.
Stone-Frisina was brilliant in his no-decision, allowing only one hit in five innings with one run and three strikeouts. Lorenz earned the win after scattering five hits over six frames with four strikeouts.
These were the final two scheduled games for Rollins baseball for the 2021 season. However, due to the number of postponed and cancelled contests earlier this year, there have been discussion about adding a game next week. Stay tuned to RollinsSports.com for the latest schedule updates.
