Brian McLellan
The Corsair
The Pensacola State baseball team nearly blew an eight run lead in the seventh inning, but held on to win its home opener 10-9 over Faulkner State Community College on Tuesday.
The Sun Chiefs (0-1) scored six runs in the top of the seventh inning, three of which came off a Brett Underwood three-run homerun. But Danny Davis was able to shut the door for the Pirates (6-3) when he struck out Underwood with a runner on second to end the game.
After falling behind 2-0 in the third inning, Pensacola State responded with four runs on four hits in the bottom of the third, then batted around for six runs on five hits in the fourth to take a 10-2 lead.
The Pirates chased out Sun Chiefs starter Josh Hollingsworth after just three-plus innings of work, allowing seven runs on seven hits.
“(Hollingsworth) is a sinkerball pitcher, and he left a few pitches up in the zone that our guys were able to get a hold of,” said Pirates head coach Keith Little. “We got some good hits in and then their guys didn’t do a good job making some routine plays, so we were able to capitalize.”
While five different Pirates drove in runs in the game, catcher Johnathon Beary picked up three RBI on two hits and designated hitter Roy Moulder drove in four runs on two extra base hits, including a triple, in the third and fourth innings.
“The first one I just tried to keep my shoulder in and drive the ball the other way, then on the second he just gave me a good ball to drive and I took advantage of it,” Moulder said.
The production would end there, however, as Faulkner State right-hander Jeffery Price struck out six Pirates in three innings of relief.
“I think (Price) did a really good job of pounding the strike zone,” said Little. “I mean, we only got one base runner in the last four innings. We struck out way too much.”
Strikeouts were a recurring theme in the game, as Faulkner pitchers combined to punch out 14 Pensacola batters.
The Pirates had pitching issues of their own, too. After starter Stefan del Pino allowed just three runs on five hits in six innings, Nick Gollher was chased out by the Sun Chiefs after allowing the six run outburst in the top of the seventh, after just one-third of an inning in relief.
Davis was then brought in to put out the fire, and pitched two and two-thirds solid innings to pick up the save for the Pirates.
Pensacola State travels to New Orleans this weekend to take part in the Delgado Community College Tournament from, then heads to Alabama Southern Community College for a Valentines Day showdown before returning home for three games in two days Feb. 17 and 18.