By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com
The Chipola Indians bounced back from a Friday loss to win three in a row Saturday and Sunday and take the weekend series from the LSU-Eunice Bengals.
Chipola opened the weekend series with a 5-3 setback Friday, as LSU-Eunice came back from 3-1 down through seven innings by posting three runs in the top of the eighth and another in the ninth.
The Indians almost blew another lead in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, going up 9-2 after six innings before the Bengals rallied back with four runs in the seventh and eighth innings to go up 10-9 and adding another in the ninth.
But a two-run bottom of the eighth for Chipola featuring a solo home run by Bert Givens and an RBI sacrifice fly by Taylor Mauck ensured extra innings, and Josh Merrigan won it for the Indians in the 11th after doubling and scoring on two wild pitches by OJ Latin.
Chipola had 17 hits in the game led by three each from Merrigan, Kevin Santa, and Cody Landford, with Givens going 2-for-4 with three RBI and Merrigan driving in three runs as well.
Danny Mars was 2-for-5 with a walk, two RBI, and two runs.
Taylor Lewis started on the mound and gave up five earned runs on seven hits and two walks with six strikeouts in five innings, but it was Palmer Betts who got the win for three innings of relief in which he allowed an unearned run on a hit and a walk with three strikeouts.
The second game Saturday was considerably less dramatic, with the Indians winning 6-3 behind a solid starting performance from Tom Watson, who went all seven innings and allowed just two earned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out six.
Givens went 1-for-2 with his second home run of the day and two RBI, while Santa was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI, and a run, and Mars was 2-for-3 with a triple and a run.
In Sunday's finale, it was the Indians who had to erase an early deficit after falling behind 4-0 after LSU-Eunice posted two runs in the top of the first and single runs in the second and third.
Chipola answered with a five-run bottom of the third, with Givens coming up with a two-RBI double, followed by an RBI double by Merrigan, and then a two-RBI single by Mars.
The Indians added three more runs in the eighth to provide insurance for reliever Adonis Hernandez, who retired the Bengals in order in the ninth inning to close it out.
Jo Jo Durden got the win for five innings of scoreless relief in which he gave up two hits and one walk while striking out six.
Santa led the way offensively with three hits, with Mars going 2-for-2 with two RBI, Merrigan 1-for-3 with two RBI, and Givens 1-for-4 with two RBI and two runs.
Chipola coach Jeff Johnson said he was happy to get the wins, but he believes his club still has a lot of room to grow ahead of its Panhandle Conference opener Friday against Gulf Coast State.
"We didn't play very clean during the weekend, but we won 3-of-4 against a very quality club," he said. "But you look at it realistically we've got to play a lot better than we played to be successful in the conference season. We've got to get better and not just look at the scoreboard and say, 'we won, so we're good.' We've got to mature and come to work and understand what it takes to be successful long term.
"We can't keep giving up all the free bases we're giving up right now because that will catch up with us later. When you've got a 20-game conference schedule, you can't play that way or it could be a disaster as far as how the season goes."