Indians Ousted From State Tournament

By Clint Cox

The Chipola Indians baseball squad found the FCCAA State Baseball Tournament to be very similar to their season. They played well at times but also struggled at times. Those struggles led to their elimination from the tournament on Saturday in a 7-5 loss to Miami-Dade. “Our play down here in Lakeland has been a microcosm of our year,” Johnson said after the game. “We gave up some walks and committed some costly errors. We battled back and had a chance at the end but just could not come up with the big hits when we needed them the most,” Johnson added.

Saturday’s game pitted the Indians against a speedy bunch of Sharks from Miami-Dade and Chipola fell behind early 4-0. in the top of the third inning. The Indians battled back to tie the game though by plating two runs in the bottom of the third inning and two more in the bottom of the fifth. But the Sharks struck again in the top of the sixth with three runs to take a 7-4 lead. In the bottom of the ninth Chipola plated another run and had runners in scoring positions. But with the heart of their batting order at the plate the Indians could not come up with the needed hit and fell by two runs in the contest.

The Indians started the tournament on Thursday with a 16-10 slugfest loss to Palm Beach State. It was an offensive showcase as the two squads combined for 25 hits and six home runs. Chipola trailed for most of the game but rallied to take a 10-8 lead in the top of the seventh inning. Just when the Indians had grabbed the momentum the rains came and forced a 30 minute rain delay. When play resumed Palm Beach plated seven runs to reclaim the lead and went on to the six run win. Eric Sauls had a big day going 2-4 with two home runs and five RBI.

That dropped the Indians into a loser bracket matchup on Friday against St. Johns River Community College. The game was scoreless through 5 ½ innings when the Indians struck for three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Indian pitchers Rodney Quintero and Duncan Midkiff held St. Johns to just one run to seal the win and advance the Indians to Saturday’s matchup against Miami Dade.

Marianna’s Tyler Wilson had an outstanding tournament as he went 5-7 (.714) with two RBI, two runs scored and two stolen bases. Cody Martin went 4-8 with a home run, four runs scored and a RBI. Josh Allen had a solid tournament as well going 4-11 with three RBI and a run scored. Andy Fermin was 4-13 with two runs scored and a RBI. Chipola, who entered the tournament ranked #7 in the state, finished the season with a record of 27-25.