By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com

The Chipola Indians kept pace in the race for the Panhandle Conference Championship on Saturday with a 10-2 win over the Pensacola State Pirates in seven innings at Chipola Field.

Taylor Lewis started on the mound and allowed two earned runs on four hits, a walk, and five strikeouts in five innings to get the win for the Indians, who improved to 13-4 in the Panhandle Conference standings and just a half-game behind first-place Gulf Coast State (13-3) with three league contests remaining.

Ian Rice had a monster day at the plate for Chipola, hitting a pair of three-run home runs in consecutive innings to finish with six RBI.

After the Indians plated two runs in the bottom of the second on RBI hits by Bert Givens and Blaze Vasquez, Rice hit his first home run of the day in the third following a walk to Kevin Santa and a double by Danny Mars to make it 5-0.

A two-RBI single by Tyler Chatman got the Pirates on the board in the top of the fourth, but Rice countered with another three-run shot in the bottom of the inning to make it 8-2.

An RBI sacrifice fly by Chase Scott and an RBI single by Jacky Miles, Jr. later in the inning rounded out the scoring for the Indians and allowed them to win the game via run-rule after relief pitchers Tom Watson and Thompson Geron combined to close it out in the seventh.

Daniel Lewis started on the mound for Pensacola State and took the loss, giving up eight earned runs on nine hits and five walks with two strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.

Scott added three hits for the Indians, who had 14 as a team, with Mars and Givens picking up two hits and scoring twice, and Miles, Jr. going 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Santa had a hit, a walk, and scored three times, while Vasquez was 1-for-1 with three walks and an RBI.

The Indians were scheduled to take on the Pirates again on Monday night in Pensacola before finishing the conference schedule with a pair of games against Northwest Florida State, starting Wednesday in Niceville and then Friday in Marianna.