By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com
The Chipola Indians overcame a 3-0 deficit through five innings to earn their third consecutive Panhandle Conference victory Wednesday night at home, beating the Tallahassee Eagles 4-3 in the first of a three-game series.
Kevin Santa provided the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off RBI single to score Chase Scott with two outs.
Adonis Hernandez got the win for pitching three nearly-perfect innings of relief, allowing no runs on no hits with one walk and striking out six batters.
Michael Mader started the game and went six innings on the mound but didn't factor in the decision after giving up three earned runs on six hits and five walks with four strikeouts.
An RBI groundout by Christian Dicks and an RBI single by Cory Borup put TCC up 2-0 in the third inning, with another RBI hit by Quincy Nieporte tacked on another run in the fifth.
Chipola got a run back in the sixth when Cody Lanford had a lead-off single and scored on a fielder's choice, and the Indians tied it up with two in the seventh on RBI singles by Kyle Moore and Lanford.
In the bottom of the ninth, Scott walked and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Moore, but TCC reliever Will Thompson struck out Jacky Miles, Jr. swinging for the second out.
An intentional walk to Lanford set up force plays at second and third base, but a wild pitch by Thompson allowed the runners to move up into scoring position for Santa, who battled back from an 0-2 count to take a 3-2 pitch to centerfield for the game-winning hit.
Lanford led Chipola with two hits to go with a walk, a run, and an RBI, with Moore going 1-for-3 with a walk, a run, and an RBI, and Scott 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs.
Nieporte was 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI for TCC, and Bobby Rice was 1-for-4 with a walk and two runs.
With the win, the Indians moved to 3-1 in the Panhandle Conference after dropping their league-opener to Gulf Coast last week, while the Eagles dropped to 2-2.
The second game of the series is scheduled for Friday in Tallahassee at 4 p.m. before the series finale Saturday in Marianna at 1 p.m.