MELBOURNE, Fla. (March 28, 2025) - Impending weather for Sunday forced Rollins and Florida Tech to rearrange their schedules for the weekend, leading to a doubleheader on Friday. The Panthers captured both games in extra innings, dropping the Tars to 20-9 on the year with a 10-4 record in the SSC.
Game One
Florida Tech 4, Rollins 3
13 Innings
The Panthers jumped on the board in the second inning, using three hits to push a run across. The damage could have been worse, but
Tyler Toro induced a flyout while
Mason Wilson gunned a runner down at second.
Rollins tied the game in the fourth.
Joey Rubin led off with a double, moved to third on a sac bunt from
Jeslyn Whitehead, and touched home on a Wilson sac fly. Wilson would help his team again in the sixth when his double drove in Whitehead, who had singled in the previous at-bat.
Tech had a quick answer in the bottom, using a groundout to tie the game. Again, the Panthers had baserunners on, but
Angelo Ramirez made a nice throw on a base hit to gun down a runner trying to take third and end the inning.
AJ Seymour spotted Toro with one out in the seventh, and ran into some trouble in the eight. Tech was able to score their third run with a double, single, and sac fly. Down to their would-be final at bat, the Tars had some clutch hitting from
Corey Zientek, who singled, and
Dalton Pyzer, who roped a double to left that scored Zientek, sending the game to extras.
Rollins loaded the bases in the tenth, but failed to score. When Florida Tech doubled to lead off their tenth, things looked spotty for the Tars. However, Seymour worked a popout and a double play to escape the jam.
In the eleventh, Rollins had a runner on third with one out, but again failed to bring him in. Then, in the thirteenth, Wilson led off with a double. With one out and two on, a hit-and-run wa called on, and it backfired for the Tars as the batter struck out and Wilson was thrown out trying to steal. Tech made Rollins play, walking off with a single up the middle to end the game, 4-3.
Both Toro and Seymour threw 6.1 innings in this one, with Seymour taking the tough loss. Four Tars had multiple hits, led by Whitehead's three as well as two doubles from Wilson.
Game Two
Florida Tech 3, Rollins 2
11 Innings
The Tars had plenty of chances to score in game two, putting runners on base in almost every inning. However, the key hits never seemed to find their bats.
It started in the first with the bases loaded, but a groundout ended the inning. The second inning saw runners on all three bags again, but this time a double play ended the threat. Inning three had Wilson standing on second after a leadoff double, but he would end up there three outs later.
The scoreboard finally got some action in the fourth when Whitehead ripped a single to right, plating
Jimmy Thies, who had singled to lead off the inning. Unfortunately, the Panthers had a quick response in the form of a two-out RBI double that tied the game.
Rollins struck again the fifth. An error, followed by three singles, led to
Rob Buckley scoring on a
Stephen Deans knock to right.
Edward Berry then fired another scorelss frame to close out his best appearance of the season.
The sixth and seventh innings went by quickly. Rollins had a great chance to extend their lead in the eighth, but Thies was tagged out at home on an attempted suicide squeeze play. In the bottom of the eighth, the Panthers tied the game with a single to center.
The Tars did not really threaten in the remainder of their at bats. In the bottom of the eleventh, Tech used a single, a costly throwing error, and a sac fly to walk off winners for the second time.
Thies was the offensive standout in game two, going 5-5 and scoring once. He was 8-10 combined on the day.
Michael Furry added three hits from the leadoff spot.
Game three of the series will be played on Saturday at 1:00 pm from Melbourne.
