Baseball team sweeps Santa Fe Saturday

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team won both games of the Citrus Conference doubleheader on Saturday.

The Titans won the series with the sweep on Saturday, defeating Santa Fe College 14-5 in the first game and then 3-2 in the second game.

In the first game, Eastern Florida State College scored eight times in the bottom of the first inning as they had seven hits and sent 13 hitters to the plate. Leadoff hitter Jake Richardson scored twice in the inning, hitting a single to lead off the game and then was hit by a pitch and scored again.

Up 8-3, Andrew Prieto had an RBI double to make it 9-3. The Titans scored three more times in the fourth inning as Chris Carroll led off the inning with his first home run of the year and then Richie Collazo had an RBI single and Prieto had a sacrifice fly.

The Titans would score a run in the fifth and another in the sixth to pick up the win.

Ethan Askin went 4-for-4 with two RBI and scored twice while Prieto had three hits and drove in two runs. Omir Santos was on base all five times he came to bat, scoring three runs.

Parker Trowbridge picked up the win, his fifth of the season.

Game 2 was a pitching duel as Couper Gatch tossed six and one-third strong innings, allowing two runs and struck out eight. Gatch got out of a two-on, one out jam in the second inning with a pair of strikeouts. Then in the fifth inning, he had two more strikeouts to hold the Saints to one run.

The Titans offense got things going in the second inning against Santa Fe starter Matthew Pagan. With one out, Ray Yero singled and then with two outs, Hutson Guinn walked. Both would score on Askin's double.

Up 2-0, the Titans added a run in the third inning when Jacob Miller walked and advanced to third when a pickoff throw sailed down the first base line. He would score on Prieto's single.

Up 3-2, Breylynn Courtney came into the game in the eighth inning and got out of a jam after walking a pair of hitters. Then with one on and two out in the ninth, Courtney struck out Joseph Calise to end the game. It was Courtney's fifth save of the season.

Gatch picked up his first win of the season.

Eastern Florida State College improved to 11-19 in the Citrus Conference and will be back at Bruce Bochy Field on Tuesday evening for a non-conference game against the State College of Florida-Manatee. The game will begin at 5 p.m. and admission is free. Fans can watch it live on the EFSC Titans YouTube page.