DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 28, 2025) - In a tremendous show of grit, baseball fought back from a 6-2 deficit to take home an impressive 12-6 win at Embry-Riddle on Friday night. The victory moves Rollins to 8-3 on the year, with a 3-1 record in SSC play. The Eagles match them with an identical 8-3, 3-1 SSC mark.
Rollins found themselves in a hole after allowing three runs in the bottom of the first, thanks to a Matthew Coker home run. Fast forward to the top of the third, and the Tars joined them on the board. With two outs and the bases loaded,
Corey Zientek ripped a shot up the middle to score
Michael Furry and
Joey Rubin.
The score would remain 3-2 until the fifth. The inning started with an error, a walk, two singles and a sac fly. In the blink of an eye, it had become a 6-2 ballgame.
All that did was fire up the Rollins offense. In the sixth, Rubin delivered a two-out, two-RBI single to left that scored
Dalton Pyzer and
Angelo Ramirez. In the seventh, Zientek led off with a triple and was brought home on a
Chris Sparber sac fly. Then, in the eighth, the Tars struck for three more runs.
Jeslyn Whitehead's single plated Rubin, who had walked and stole second. Three batters later, Sparber ripped a shot to left that scored Whitehead. That was followed by a double from Pyzer that allowed Sparber and
Mason Wilson to come around.
Rollins added three more runs in the ninth as well, thanks to three errors from the Eagles defense, making the final of 12-6.
While the offense was certainly the story of the night, let's not overlook the impact of the Rollins bullpen.
Blake Tipmore and
AJ Seymour each supplied two innings of scoreless pitching. Tipmore earned the win after tossing a clean sixth and seventh. Seymour earned his first save of the season with a strong eighth and ninth.
The offense combined for twenty hits in this one. Eight of nine starters had at least one hit, six of nine starters had multiple hits, and eight of nine starters scored a run. Whitehead collected four hits in six tries, raising his season average to .508. Pyzer reached base safely five times, and Rubin scored three times while driving in two.
Game two of the series will take place in Daytona on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 pm.
