BRADENTON, Fla. - NCF Baseball suffered its first series loss of the season over the weekend as it dropped two out of three to the Fort Lauderdale Eagles at IMG Academy to fall to 14-7 on the season.
The Eagles took Game 1, a nine-inning afair 10-8, Saturday and the two teams split a seven-inning doubleheader Sunday, with the Banyans taking the first contest 7-2 and falling in the rubber match 5-3.
Game 1
After falling behind 2-0 early in Saturday's series opener, NCF bounced back to take a 4-2 lead as
Patrick Fink slugged a solo home run in the bottom of the second,
Luka Dodig hit a game-tying RBI single and
Fernando Espinal hit a go-ahead two-run single in the bottom of the fifth.
The Eagles responded with four runs in the top of the seventh to move back in front 6-4, but the Mighty Banyans would reclaim the lead once more as in the bottom of the eighth,
Brecken Fair hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 6-5 and Fink delivered a two-run go-ahead single to make it 7-6.
Needing three outs to secure the victory, NCF was unable to close out the Eagles as Rolando Lujo ripped a go-ahead grand slam in the top of the ninth to put Fort Lauderdale up 10-7.
A sac-fly from
Avery Bishop in the bottom of the ninth made it 10-8, but it was too little too late as Lujo's grand slam would serve as the game-winner for the Eagles.
Game 2
It was all Mighty Banyans in Game 2 of Sunday's seven-inning doubleheader as NCF plated five in the top of the first highlighted by a two-run home run from
Andrew Merchant and then added two more in the bottom of the second as Espinal hit an RBI double and
Miguel Pena hit an RBI single.
Fort Lauderdale would only get two of the runs scored by NCF back as Mighty Banyans ace
Ryan Swartz once again cruised as he pitched a complete game in which he allowed just two earned runs, four hits and two walks while striking out three.
With the win, Swartz is now 5-0 on the season.
Game 3
The Banyans struck first blood in the series finale as Merchant lifted his second two-run home run of the day in the top of the second to make it 2-0.
NCF's 2-0 lead would stand until the top of the fourth, where the Eagles struck for three runs to take the lead and in the top of the fifth, a two-run home run from Jon Pinciotti made it 5-2.
An RBI single from NCF's
Brodie Whitlock cut the Fort Lauderdale lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth and in the bottom of the seventh, Merchant stepped to the plate as the go-ahead run with two out, but he struck out to end the game as the Eagles secured the series victory.
Up Next: The Mighty Banyans will travel to Ave Maria Friday to kickoff a four-game Sun Conference opening series.
