Indians take two from TCC; increase their lead in Panhandle

The #4 Chipola Indians took two games from the Tallahassee Eagles this week to up their lead in the Panhandle Conference to three games.

The Indians defeated the Eagles, 11-6, on Monday night, and then took the series finale on Wednesday night, 5-1. Chipola won the series between the two teams by winning five of the six games against the Eagles.

Monday (4/11/22): Chipola 11, TCC 6

Both teams came into Monday night's game with their pitching staffs on life support. Due to rain the previous week, each team was forced to play four games at the end of the week.

The Indians played nine-inning games against Northwest Florida on Thursday and Friday followed by a Saturday doubleheader against the Raiders. To make matters worse, Saturday's first game, scheduled for seven innings, went 10 innings.

TCC and Pensacola were reschedule to a pair of nine-inning games on Thursday and a pair of seven-inning games on Saturday. TCC did manage to run-rule Pensacola in one of the games on Thursday to only play seven innings.

In Monday night's game, the two teams combined to use eleven pitchers in the nine inning affair, with neither team using a hurler more than three innings.

After the Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Indians came back in the top of the third to score five runs. Tucker Flint hit his 13th home run of the season to score Zac Rice who was hit by a pitch and give the Indians a 2-1 lead. After Brando Leroux was hit by a pitch, Cam Collier and Shane Lewis hit back-to-back doubles to put Chipola up 4-1. After Lewis moved up on a wild pitch and Jake Holland walked, Cesar Franco picked up a RBI on a sac fly that scored Lewis.

The Eagles picked up two runs in the fourth to close the score to 5-3 but the Indians took advantage of another hit by pitch in the top of the fifth to answer. After Leroux was once again hit by a pitch, Cam Collier doubled, scoring Leroux and giving the Indians a three-run advantage.

TCC tied the game in the bottom of the sixth courtesy of three walks, a hit batter, and a pair of singles. All three of the Eagles' runs came with two outs.

With two outs in the top of the seventh, Jake Holland hitting up delivering the death blow to the Eagles. Holland hit is fourth home run of the season, a solo shot, to put the Indians out in front for good.

Chipola added three runs in the eighth to increase their lead. Taylor Clapp singled and Emanuel Aldoban doubled to start the inning. With one out, Tucker Flint was intentionally walked and Brando Leroux made the Eagles pay with a double to right field that scored Clapp and Aldoban and sent Flint to third. The next batter, Cam Collier, hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Flint and give the Indians a 10-6 advantage.

In the ninth, with a runner on third and two outs, Coach Jeff Johnson sent Victor Sanchez to the plate. Sanchez delivered with a RBI single to bring in the final run of the game.

Ben Fiedler (2-1), the sixth Chipola pitcher of the night, got the win after only giving one hit in 1.1 innings of relief. Cam Collier pitched the eighth and the ninth without giving up a run on one hit and struck out four.

Wednesday (4/13/22): Chipola 5, TCC 1

With both pitching staffs gaining a little more rest, Wednesday's game between the two teams, was a lower scoring affair.

After three innings, both teams were scorless and the teams had combined for just four baserunners.

In the bottom of the fourth, after a Cam Collier single to lead off the inning, three walks produced the first run of the game for the Indians. With two outs, a single from Zac Rice plated two more runs to put Chipola up 3-0.

The Eagles threatened in the top of the fifth when the first batter of the inning tripled and with one out, Chipola starter Drew Howard, walked two batters to load the bases. Howard struck out the next batter and, with two outs, Brando Leroux made a diving stop up the middle and flipped to Peter Vazquez at second to preserve the three run lead.

Chipola added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Following a leadoff walk to Leroux, Shane Lewis tripled to take a 4-0 lead. Once again, Coach Johnson called on Victor Sanchez to pinch hit and as he did two nights before, Sanchez singled to score Lewis.

After the Eagles loaded the bases in the top of the sixth on a pair of singles and a walk, Coach Johnson brought Dylan Eskew out of the pen. Eskew got the first out on a slow comebacker but then hit the next batter to allow TCC to plate a run. However, Eskew struck out the next batter and a ground ball to first baseman Tucker Flint, held the Eagles to just one run.

Drew Howard picked up his seventh win of the season. Dylan Eskew threw three innings of no hit relief and struck out four. Colton Mercer came on to throw the ninth and picked up two strikeouts.

Game Notes

• Next up: Chipola will host Pensacola on Friday at 5 PM in a nine inning game before traveling to Pensacola on Saturday for a 1 PM nine-inning game.
• Both Shane Lewis and Tucker Flint are among the nation's home run leaders. Lewis tied for 7th with 15 home runs and Flint is tied for 13th with 13 home runs. As a team the Indians have hit 63 home runs which is tied for tenth in the NJCAA and second in the FCSAA.
• The Indians are currently on a five-game winning streak after taking three from Northwest Florida prior to the two wins against Tallahasssee.
• Prior to the game, Coach Jeff Johnson presented Tallahassee head coach Mike McLeod with a fishing rod. Coach McLeod is retiring at the end of the 2022 season. Coach McLeod has been the Head Baseball Coach at Tallahassee Community College for the last 32 years and is the longest tenured coach in Region 8.  He has won more than 1,000 games during his years at TCC. He and Coach Johnson have competed against one another for 26 consecutive seasons. Chipola College wishes Coach McLeod the best of luck the remainder of this season and in his next journey of life.