Florida Tech Continues Hot Streak With 11th Straight Win, Defeats Bloomfield 12-1

By  //  March 10, 2016

Winning Streak Extends Back To Feb. 20

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Kevin Capella went a perfect 3-for-3 in Wednesday’s 12-1 win over Bloomfield. (Image by Ryan Seeloff)

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Not even its sixth game in seven days could phase Florida Tech with the way it’s been playing lately, as the Panthers dominated Bloomfield en route to a 12-1 victory Wednesday at Seminick-Hall Field.

Freshman Rhett Willis earned his first career ‘W’ on the mound and Michael Jenks and Erik Molina both homered for a Florida Tech squad that’s now won 11 in a row.

Handed the ball by head coach Greg Berkemeier against the Bears, Wills didn’t disappoint in front of the home crowd. The Fort White, Florida native yielded just two hits and one run in five innings, striking out nine, including all three batters looking in the third inning.

“I felt like Rhett did a good job,” said Berkemeier.

Greg Berkemeier
Greg Berkemeier

“He went out there and put up a bunch of zeroes. We weren’t doing a whole lot offensively the first couple innings of the game, but he made sure to match their guy zero for zero. Even after we were able to score a couple runs, he continued to do it. He’s a good competitor and I liked the way he threw the ball today.”

Bloomfield tallied its lone run of the ball game off Willis in the fifth, but not before the Panthers had already staked the 5-foot-9 right-hander to a 7-0 cushion.

Offensively, Kevin Capella and Reid Neal notched three hits apiece, while Grant McKown and Daniel Szpik each recorded two RBI’s.

However, it was a pair of unlikely candidates that provided the fireworks as Jenks and Molina put the game well beyond reach with their first round-trippers of the season.

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The Florida Tech bats were quieted through the first two innings Wednesday, but kicked it into high gear with a five-run third to grasp control.

A pair of run-scoring doubles by Szpik and John Sprowls put the Panthers up 3-0 in the frame before James Gronberg singled home Szpik with a base hit through the right side of the infield. Still with only one away in the inning, Molina then found a gap in right center for his first of three RBI’s in the contest.

“Erik goes to work every day,” Berkemeier said about Molina.

“He had himself a good day yesterday and came out here again today and had another good one. That’s credit to him. He does a good job of keeping himself prepared and made the most of his opportunity.”

McKown added a two-run double to extend the lead in the fourth only to later be upstaged by Molina and Jenks.

Jenks’ two-run blast off the bench in the eighth inning marked his first in 31 career at-bats.

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After bring retired in order in the bottom of the first, Florida Tech had at least two runners reach base safely in each of the next six innings.

Following the victory, FIT will now focus its attention towards league play with a three-game series versus Sunshine State Conference foe Florida Southern set to begin Friday at 6 p.m. ET in Lakeland, Florida.

For complete coverage, log onto FloridaTechSports.com.