Baseball: Chipola splits weekend series

By WRBL Staff

Published: March 17, 2008

The Chipola Indians baseball team split their two-game conference opener with a 6-4 win in Tallahassee on Friday and a 5-4 loss in Marianna on Saturday.

The Friday win was not without a costly injury to Jordan Lucas. Lucas was hit by a pitch in the temple and missed Saturday’s game due to the injury.

Assistant Coach Brent Shelton said on Monday, “The swelling had gone down some yesterday and if I were guessing, I’d guess he would be able to play tomorrow.”

In Saturday’s match up, Ryan Chaffee got the start on the mound for Chipola. Chaffee issued three walks to start the inning. The first batter scored on a wild pitch with a fielder’s choice getting the first out of the inning.

A fly ball to deep right field was caught by Marc Bourgeois. The runner tried the arm of Bourgeois and lost with an on-the-mark throw to catcher Moises Montero for the final out of the inning.

Einar Artencio had the only hit of the inning for Chipola and was left on the bag at second.

After an initial walk to start the inning, Chaffee retired the next eight batters in order, six on strikeouts.

With one out in the bottom of the second inning, Edmond Sparks and Tyler Bumgarner were both hit by pitches. An RBI double by Adam Duval scored Sparks and a single by D. J. Jones scored Bumgarner. Chris Berroa walked but a double play ended the inning.

Chipola was retired in order in the bottom of the third inning. Duvall had a two-out single in the fourth but a ground out to first ended the inning with Duval stranded at first.

Berroa led things off in the fifth with a single, stole second and third, but Tallahassee toughened their defense and retired the next three batters.
Chaffee’s single was the only offense of the sixth inning with the Indians going in order in the seventh and eighth innings.

Chipola rallied in their final at bat, picking up two runs and a putting a third in scoring position. Sparks led off with a single and with one out; Duvall was the latest Indian to take one for the team, putting runners on the corners. Sparks scored on a passed ball and a single by Jones loaded the bases. Berroa hit into a fielder’s choice to score Duvall but a ground out to third ended the inning with the Indians one run shy of forcing extra innings.

In Friday’s road trip to Tallahassee, Drew Parker picked up the win, going 5 innings, allowing six hits and striking out two. Kyle Regnault came on in relief until the final inning with Matt Jackson closing the final 1 2/3 innings, striking out two.

Chaffee led the team offensively, going 3-for-4 with a homerun and an RBI, followed by Moises Montero who was 2-for-4 with a homerun and an RBI. Edmond Sparks was 2-for-4, with Marc Bourgeois going 2-for-5 with an RBI.

The Indians have little time to regroup with Pensacola coming to town on Tuesday. Game time is scheduled for 5 p.m.