Florida Tech Panthers Weekend Sports Roundup
By Space Coast Daily // March 2, 2014
Royals Rally from Behind, Defeat Men’s Lacrosse in Overtime
For the second consecutive game, the final minute of the fourth quarter proved to be crucial as Queens University of Charlotte (2-2) scored a goal with 1:06 remaining in regulation to tie the game at 7-7 and force a overtime.
With 3:28 remaining in overtime, the Royals’ Patrick Murphy found the net as Florida Tech (1-2) fell to Queens in their inaugural meeting, 8-7.
A penalty called on the Panthers with 1:23 left in the fourth allowed the Royals to play a man up and Garrett Chan scored with 1:06 remaining to tie the game at 7-7.
After allowing the opening goal, FIT scored five consecutive goals to take a 5-1 advantage in the second quarter.
Heading into halftime with a 5-3 lead, Queens came out firing in the third quarter and scored three unanswered goals to give the Royals a 6-5 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Brian Bacarella scored his second goal of the afternoon in the opening minutes to tie the game at 6-6 and Nick Wynne followed with his second goal with 3:13 remaining to take a one-goal lead, 7-6.
With the loss, the Panthers are now 1-2 on the year while goalie Jordan Hayes falls to 0-1. Hayes, who was making his Panther debut, registered 15 saves in the contest. Charlie Morrisette, Wynne and Bacarella recorded two goals apiece, Kevin McKernan scored his first goal of the season and Andrew Conley added two assists.
FIT begins a four-game home stand, beginning with its home opener on Saturday, March 8 at 1 p.m. against Wheeling Jesuit University.
No. 5 Baseball Splits Saturday Doubleheader with No. 6 Sharks
The No. 5 Florida Tech Panthers continued their Sunshine State Conference series against No. 6 Nova Southeastern Saturday with a double-header.
The Panthers shook off Friday night’s loss and won game one Saturday 10-2. However, the Sharks came back and won game two 3-2 to take the series.
“Nova is a good club, and that is what conference play is going to like,” said head coach Greg Berkemeier.
“You are going to play a lot of tight games, and even though we pulled away in game one, all three games were tight. We didn’t execute in a lot of key situations today both offensively and defensively.”
The Sharks came out quickly, and put two runs on the board in the first inning. The Panthers answered Nova in the bottom half of the first inning with two runs of their own.
The Panthers kept the Sharks off the board and put runs up on the board in the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings. Up 5-2 in the eighth inning, the Panthers put game one away with five runs. The runs allowed the Panthers to win game one 10-2.
Junior Kevin Wortman finished the game with three RBIs, and senior Jorge Chavarria and freshman Grant McKowneach had two.
Junior Scotty Ward (4-0) picked up the win for the Panthers. Ward pitched eight innings, allowed two runs on four hits, walked two, and struck out four.
Julian Loret de Mola (3-1) suffered the loss for the Sharks in game one.
The Panthers (13-4, 1-2 SSC) jumped out the lead in game two with two runs in the first inning. Sophomore Austin Allen brought home senior Andrew Bartlett with a sacrifice fly to left field. Wortman then brought McKown around to score with a double to left field. The runs put the Panthers up 2-0.
Trailing by a pair of runs, Nova (14-2, 2-1 SSC) jumped into the lead with three runs in the third inning.
Andres Visbal brought home Alvin Swoope, and an error by the Panthers allowed two more runs to come in later in the inning. The Panthers could not score a tying run, and the Sharks earned the 3-2 victory in seven innings.
Freshman Grant Willcoxon (1-1) suffered the loss for the Panthers. Willcoxon pitched four innings, allowed three runs, but only one was earned. He also walked one and struck out three. Sophomore Michael Knott pitched three innings in relief, and allowed just three hits and struck out one.
Dillon Frye (1-0) picked up the win for the Sharks. Frye pitched four innings, allowed two runs with only one being earned. Alex Fernandez pitched three innings in relief and earned his first save of the season.
Panthers End Regular Season on Wrong End of 109-79 Contest
Despite shooting 58.6 percent from the floor in the first half, Florida Tech (16-12, 5-11 SSC), the balanced offensive attack by Barry University (19-7, 9-7 SSC) allowed the Buccaneers to take control of Saturday afternoon’s regular season finale at Clemente Center and defeat the Panthers, 109-79.
The Bucs shot 54 percent from the field and were 13-of-20 from behind-the-arc.
BU was lights out from the free throw line, connecting on 16 of its 17 while the Panthers were just 10-of-20. Barry featured five players in double figures and as a team, dished out 30 assists on 40 made field goals.
Corbin Jackson finished with 15 points, five rebounds and four blocks, Chris Carter added seven assists, 11 points and two steals andJermaine Jackson finished with six assists and two steals to go with his 17 points.
David Usicrecorded six points and three rebounds in nine minutes of action.
Jermaine Jackson scored 11 of his 17 points in the first half but FIT went into halftime trailing by double digits, 55-41. Barry shot 55.3 percent from the field, 5-of-8 from long distance and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe.
The Panthers will be the No. 8 seed in the upcoming Sunshine State Conference Tournament and will take on the No. 3 seed. Saint Leo University (21-7, 9-6 SSC) currently holds the No. 3 slot in the conference standings and the matchup between No. 3 and No. 8 will take place on Thursday, March 6 at 5 p.m. at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Fla.
