Chipola Baseball makes quick work of Pensacola

By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com

The Chipola Indians cruised past Pensacola State in the first of a three-game series Saturday in Pensacola, dominating the last-place Pirates in every facet en route to a 13-0 five-inning victory.

With the win, the Indians bounced back from a 7-4 loss to Tallahassee on March 22 – a defeat that snapped a four-game winning streak – and improved to 5-2 in Panhandle Conference play.

Chipola broke the game open early with a grand slam by Jacky Miles, Jr. in the top of the second inning, which followed an RBI single by Jason Sierra to make the game 5-0.

The Indians tacked on two more long balls in the third inning – a two-run homer by Josh Merrigan and a three-run shot by Blaze Vazquez – to go up 10-0 off of Pensacola starter Matt Muench.

Merrigan added an RBI single as part of a two-run fourth inning for Chipola, and then brought home Kevin Santa on a fielder's choice in the fifth for his fourth RBI.

He finished 3-for-4 with two runs on the day, with Miles, Jr. going 1-for-3 with five RBI, Vazquez 1-for-1 with a walk, two runs, and three RBI, and Ian Rice 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs.

Danny Mars was also 1-for-3 with a double and a run, while Givens went 1-for-3 with a double and two runs.

Taylor Lewis started on the mound and went four innings to get the win, striking out six and surrendering four hits.

Will Mullen and Tyler Chatman led Pensacola State with two hits each.

Muench gave up 11 earned runs on 10 hits and a walk with four strikeouts to take the loss for the Pirates, who fell to 1-9 in conference play.