Baseball Defeats Eastern FL Behind Great Pitching

Palm Beach earned their third win in southern Conference play as they defeated Eastern Florida State College by a score of 7-4.

The Panthers took an early 2-0 lead on a Gabriel Cruz single, scoring Brannon Mondragon in inning number three. A Gabriel Cruz double in the 5th inning put the team up 5-0 through 4 1/2. PBSC would jump out to a 7-0 lead following a Justin Tew RBI single and a Thomas Diaz double, which scored Mondragon and Tew. 

Starter Ethan Petric was in control all game. He was efficient through 6 innings, scattering 6 hits, and only allowed 2 runs. His two runs earned came in his final inning of work.

Eastern Florida looked to make a comeback in the 7th. Ethan Petric left with the bases loaded and no one out. Tyler Montoya came in to relieve Petric and worked out of the bases loaded jam without allowing a runner to score. Montoya struck out the first batter he faced, allowed a harmless fly ball into shallow center, and struck out the next batter to end the inning. Montoya was able to work out of another jam in the 8th as he struck out the last batter of the inning with the bases once again loaded. Montoya was able to get the first two outs of the 9th inning, but his control started to fall off a bit as he tired. JD Johnstone relieved Montoya and was able to generate two ground balls to get out of the inning, but errors on the defense allowed two runners to score. Johnstone took matters into his own hands and struck out the final batter he faced to end the game 7-4.

Brannon Mondragon had quite the performance on offense. He went 4-4 and reached base in all five plate appearances he had on the afternoon. Additionally, Mondragon led the team with three runs scored. Thomas Diaz drove in four. Gabriel Cruz was 3-5 and drove in two.

Panthers travel back to Palm Beach for the rubber game of the series at 1:00 ET.

#GoPanthers