St. Petersburg, Fla. – The battle for second place in the Sunshine State Conference concluded with Lynn University's sixth-ranked baseball holding sole possession. The Fighting Knights split their doubleheader with a 5-4 victory and 3-1 loss to Eckerd but took two of three in the series. Bill Mendek picked up his fourth win in relief while Thomas Kain drove in two more runs with his team-leading 12th double of the season. Lynn improves to 25-7 overall and 9-3 in the SSC.
Wildness plagued the Tritons (19-9, 7-4 SSC) from the get-go in game one as Zach Hoppe issued four consecutive walks in the second to plate the first Lynn run. Alex Freedman then knocked in another run with a sacrifice fly to put the Blue & White up 2-0.
Eckerd was able to cut the deficit in half in the fifth but the Fighting Knights added two more runs in the sixth, courtesy of a two-out, two-run double by Kain. He is now tied for the team-lead with 27 runs batted in.
Unfortunately, a two-out error in the seventh tied the game at four and kept starter Daniel Patrick from picking up the win. Patrick allowed two runs, one earned, on eight hits with one walk and three strikeouts over six innings of work.
The speed of Michael Stemle pestered Eckerd throughout the series. A two-out single in the ninth followed by his second swipe of the game put him in scoring position. Enrique Perez did not disappoint with a single over the first baseman's head, down the right field line to score the winning run.
Mendek (4-2) was able to toss three innings and withstood a leadoff double in the ninth to secure the victory. Lynn has won all four of its SSC series this season having swept Rollins and taken two-out-of-three from Florida Southern, Florida Tech and now Eckerd.
An error in the opening frame led to the Tritons grabbing a first inning 1-0 lead. Two more runs in the fourth and fifth innings gave Eckerd a 3-0 advantage. Lynn was able to mount a late-inning comeback attempt with a RBI double from Sal Giardina in the sixth but fell short in the final frame.
Travis Connelly struck out five in four innings, allowing five hits and three runs, two earned. Kyle Butcher tossed two scoreless innings of relief with two strikeouts.
The Fighting Knights are back in action on Tuesday, April 1, when they host Palm Beach Atlantic for a 3 p.m. contest. Fans can watch the game live at LynnFightingKnights.com and receive in-game updates by following @LUKnights on Twitter and Instagram.
