Chipola sweeps Gulf Coast

By Dustin Kent

Published: April 12, 2008

Chipola completed a two-game sweep of the Gulf Coast Commodores Saturday at Chipola Field, using a seven-run fifth inning to take a 10-2, 8-inning win.

The Indians defeated the Commodores 10-5 Friday night in Panama City.

Those wins, along with a pair of Pensacola victories over the Tallahassee Eagles this weekend, gives Chipola a stranglehold on second place in the Panhandle Conference.

Chipola, now 11-5 in league play, holds a three-game edge over TCC for second place with four games to play, meaning that the Indians are in prime position to lock up a berth in the state tournament.

“We’re in good shape now, as far as the playoffs are concerned,” Chipola coach Jeff Johnson said after Saturday’s game.

The coach also expressed pleasure with the recent play of his club, which has now won three straight after dropping three of four.

“I’m probably as pleased as I’ve been this year with the last couple games,” Johnson said. “Some guys who were struggling with their confidence are starting to swing the bats better and I’m not seeing any selfishness out there. We’re playing as a team.

“We didn’t play perfect by any means, but it’s much, much better than we were playing earlier in the conference season.”

Chipola entered the bottom of the fifth locked in a 2-2 tie, though Jordan Lucas wasted little time breaking the tie by leading off the inning with a solo home run.

After consecutive singles by Carlos Moncrief and Edmond Sparks, Edgar Atencio hit a three-run homer to make it 6-2.

Adam Duvall also homered in the inning, which ended with the Indians on top 9-2.

“It was just a great job by our guys once (Gulf Coast) got it back even,” Johnson said. “We responded to get it back under control on our side again.”

Moncrief made his first start of the season on the mound and went 4 2/3 innings, giving up one earned run on two hits, while walking four and striking out four.

“Carlos Moncrief did a great job,” Johnson said of his freshman pitcher. “He gives us another option with some of our other pitchers being tender right now.”

Ben Jeffers went the final three innings, allowing just a hit, a walk and no runs.

Neither Moncrief nor Jeffers had pitched in the last week heading into the game, but Johnson said he was confident they could come through in a big conference game.

“Those guys have the best arms on the staff in terms of velocity,” the coach said. “Carlos Moncrief has great arm strength, about as good as there is in JUCO baseball at about 95-96 MPH. We’ve just got to get his pitch count up to where he can withstand going five or six innings for us.”

Johnson, whose Indians start a two-game set with Okaloosa-Walton Tuesday at home and finish with two games agains North Florida Friday and Saturday, said he was impressed with how his club responded in such a late-season, pressure situation.

“We kind of had our backs to the wall there,” the coach said. “You wonder what type of team you’ve got when you go into those situations, but the team responded well this weekend.

“Seems like kids have really responded the last three or four games. They’re more excited, playing better as a team, better as a unit and understanding what it takes to be successful. We’re still not playing as well as we need to play, but we’re definitely playing better.”