Baseball traveled to Winterville, NC over the weekend for a three-game conference series with Pitt. The Trojans took game two 7-1, while falling in the other two games.
They are currently 24-17 overall and 20-10 in conference play.
FTCC vs. Pitt
Game one- 2-8, Loss
The Trojans struck first in the top of the third inning for their only two runs of the game.
Kristian Scales (Madison, NC) got on board with a one-out single and Phil Williams (Wilmington, NC) followed with the same. Both runners moved up on a Bulldogs balk before Dylan Vazquez (Bega Baja, PR) hit an RBI single to right field. Jordan Wright (Rocky Mount, NC) plated the second Trojan run from a sacrifice fly to center field.
Brantley Hayward (Plant City, FL) and Williams both went 3-4 at the plate with a double. Cole Feldman (Midlothian, VA) had two hits and Chase Goodwin (Lawrenceville, GA) had the third double for the Trojans.
Ricky Montalvo (Inman, SC) started on the bump going 3.2 innings with seven strikeouts. Reno Jeter (Asheville, NC) came in to thrown the next 3.1 innings of work before getting relief from Garrett Arnold (Fuquay-Varina, NC) and Jackson Rosser (Broadway, NC).
Game two- 7-1, Win
The Bulldogs took the lead in the first scoring their one and only run. The Trojans tied the game up in the third when Koa Kloehs (Suwannee, GA) scored on an RBI single from Wright.
The game stayed tied through the fourth until the Trojans broke it open with a big five run inning in the fifth.
Williams leadoff with a single and was sacrificed over by Wright. Hayward then singled to put runners on the corners before Toufic Khabie (Aventura, FL) hit an RBI ground ball to take the lead. With two outs, Feldman doubled to add two more and Eythan Reynolds (Pinehurst, NC) hit an RBI single of his own to score him. Kloehs singled to keep the rally going and Scales smacked a line drive double to allow the fifth run to cross the plate.
The Trojans add one more insurance run in the top of the seventh when Reynolds singled to score Goodwin who walked to leadoff the inning.
Jacob Chavis (Pembroke, NC) threw a complete seven inning game giving up only one run and three hits and earned five strikeouts.
Game three- 11-19, Loss (7-innings)
The Trojans were up 7-0 until the Bulldogs scored four runs in the bottom of the third. The Trojans earned those four runs back in the fifth, but the Bulldogs responded again with five runs in the sixth inning.
Pitt had a breakout 10-run seventh inning to end the game early in seven.
Goodwin and Scales each had three hits, while Feldman and Wright each added two. Hayward had four RBIs and a homerun in the fifth inning.
Caden Jeffrey (Fayetteville, NC) started on the mound throwing 2.2 innings with two strikeouts. Chris Layton (Four Oaks, NC) threw the next 2.1 innings with three strikeouts. The final two innings were split by Grayson Stafford (Stedman, NC), Jackson Sherron (Wendell, NC), Rosser and Chase Paullin (Fuquay-Varina, NC).
Baseball is hosting Robeson on Wednesday for their next conference game. First pitch is set for 6PM at Segra Stadium in downtown Fayetteville. Then they will host Brunswick for Military Appreciation Day this weekend at JP Riddle Stadium starting at noon on Saturday.
