WINTER PARK, Fla. (February 17, 2023) - Rollins put together arguably their top performance of the young season on Friday, defeating the #17 Quincy Hawks by a score of 9-3. The win brings Rollins back to .500 on the year at 3-3, while Quincy falls to 4-2.
Rollins struck first in the first, setting the tone for the rest of the game. With one out, Rollins rattled off five consecutive hits including a triple to right from Jeslyn "Wheels" Whitehead, an RBI single from
Ryan Coleman, and a two-run bomb from
Jorge Ramirez. By the end of the inning, Rollins was up 4-0.
They would tack on two more runs in the second when
Joey Rubin doubled in Aiden Healy, and
Adams Torres drove in Rubin. After a scoreless third inning, the Tars got back on the board in the fourth with RBI from Coleman and Ramirez, making it 8-0.
While the Tars offense was clicking, it was starter
Edward Berry shutting down one of the top offenses in the country. He retired the first nine batters he faced, and held the Hawks scoreless through four innings. They did manage to get to him in the fifth on a sac fly, but Berry stranded a runner on third to prevent any further damage. He then fired a scoreless sixth inning as well, ending his day with two strikeouts in the inning, giving him seven for the game.
After the Hawks got one more back in the seventh to make it 8-2, it was time for Ramirez to go to work again. "El Oso", the bear, took the first pitch he saw in the bottom half of the inning to deep left-center for his second dinger of the game. He finished the day 4-4 at the plate with two runs scored and four RBI.
Quincy added one more run in the eighth, but
Tate Stone-Frisina was able to toss a scoreless ninth to secure the rare three-inning save and more importantly, the Tars third win of the year.
The Rollins offense posted 15 hits on the day, including six for extra bases. Six different players had multiple hits, led by Ramirez with four. Whitehead, who was 2-4 today, has multiple hits in five consecutive games.
The rubber match between these two clubs will take place on Saturday, with a noon first pitch.
