The Oglethorpe baseball team got their stay in Florida at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational started Tuesday morning in Winter Haven, but could not get the bats going in a 4-2 loss to Coe. The Stormy Petrels were able to scratch out just four hits against Kohawk pitching and dropped to 7-5 on the season.
Both teams got good pitching from the start on Tuesday, with senior Oglethorpe starter Sam Franklin going five innings and allowing just a single earned run on four hits and two walks. TheCoe starter also threw very well, allowing just an unearned run on two hits and four walks through six innings, striking out four.
The Kohawks scratched an unearned run across in the third to take the lead, but the Petrels answered back in the top of the sixth with an unearned run of their own. Sophomore center fielder Britton Araujo reached on an error to lead off the inning and the Petrels loaded the bases with one out after a single from junior third baseman Austin Ferlita and a walk from sophomore catcher Adrian Celata. Junior designated hitter Brandon Fish followed by hitting into a fielder's choice that drove in Araujo as the tying run, but the Petrels couldn't get anything more from the inning.
Coe then answered back in the bottom of the sixth with two runs to take a 3-1 lead. They added an additional run in the seventh, pushing their advantage to 4-1 headed to the ninth. Meanwhile, the Petrels had managed just three hits on the morning off of Kohawk pitching.
Coe got the first two outs in the ninth, but sophomore left fielder Jarvis Miller knocked a solo home run to left to make the score 4-2. The Petrels got nothing more, however, and the Kohawks came away with the 4-2 victory.
Franklin suffered the loss and dropped to 0-1 on the season. Miller was the only Petrel with multiple hits on the day. He went 2 for 4 with the home run.
"We got relatively good pitching today," said Oglethorpe head coach Dan Giordano. "We just couldn't get the bats going, unfortunately. We've got a day off tomorrow and then we'll look to come back on Thursday and pick up some victories down here. We've got four games in three days, so we have plenty of opportunity to make this a successful spring break trip."
The Petrels will continue their stay at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational for the rest of the week. They'll take on Rhode Island College in a doubleheader beginning at 12:30 p.m. Thursday in Auburndale, Florida. They'll then return to Winter Haven on Friday morning for a 9 a.m. contest against Thomas More. They'll round out their stay in Florida on Saturday, when they face off against Central (Iowa) in Auburndale at 9:15 a.m.