Offense Leads Florida Christian Past Palmer Trinity

The Florida Christian Patriots followed up their 29-run performance with an 11-run showing, defeating the Palmer Trinity Falcons 11-1 Tuesday night at Patriot Field.

The Patriots snapped the Falcons’ six-game wining to start the season, while moving two games over .500 with a 5-3 record. They seemed not to be fazed by the Falcons 6-0 record, dominating the game from the opening frame by scoring four runs in the first and making the night easy for starter Alex Nodarse.

“We just had to go out, play fundamentally sound and play Florida Christian baseball, and I think we did that tonight,” said Patriots Manager Chris Brigman.

The Patriots displayed good plate discipline, drawing six walks and scoring on three of those occasions. Those walks here accompanied by 12 hits, including doubles by Jorge Iza, Christian Coipel and Jorge Gonzalez, and a triple by Kendrick Garcia. Four Patriots hitters recorded multiple hits, including Brandon Chinea, Robert Favelo, Iza and Garcia.

“Guys are seeing the ball up,” said Patriots Manager Chris Brigman. “They’re squaring balls up, putting good swings on them and that’s all we can ask at this point.”

The game was blown wide open during the fourth inning when Garcia hit a three-run triple that plated Iza, Chinea and Cameron Irvine to cap off a 2-for-3 day with four RBIs.

“I was trying to move them over and get somebody in,” said Garcia. “Score more runs, that’s what the game is all about, whoever has more runs at the end of the game. All in my head was just stay back, hit the ball, drive it somewhere, score a run and get the RBI.”

The Patriots were active with the bats but the pitching was also on it’s A-game today. Nodarse threw five innings allowing just one run on three hits and four strikeouts.

“Honestly I just went out there saying I need to throw strikes,” said Nodarse. “Our guys are hitting, they’re getting the job done; now it’s the pitchers turn. We have to help them just like they’re helping us out. I had to tip my cap a few times because we were making plays all over the place.”

It was a tough game for the Falcons. After falling behind 4-0 in the fourth the club struggled to be able to put enough hits together to get back in the game.

“We felt we could come in and compete, we did and it didn’t happen,” said Falcons Manager Don Harvey. “We walked too many guys early, and the game got away from us early against a good ball club. It happens. It’s a good wake-up call for us; we have a couple good teams coming so it’s not going to get any easier. I though it was a good experience for us. We walked in, played a top-flight ball club. They came ready and defended their home field and it’s a good lesson for us, and I think it’s going to make us better down the line.”

For the Falcons, Blake Miller drove in the only run on a ground ball up the middle scoring Jarrett Pico after a hit-by-pitch. Coleson Hebble added a hit and Taylor Walker added two hits, but the Falcons couldn’t string together enough hits to make a comeback.

Both teams head into district games their next time out. The Falcons look to turn things around against the Archbishop Carroll Bulldogs in a 3A-16 showdown. The Patriots take their streaking offense against Mater Lakes Academy looking to build a three-game winning streak.

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