OCALA- The College of Central Florida baseball team was unable to hold off Hillsborough Community College on Wednesday afternoon at Goodlett Field.

The Patriots lost an early three-run lead and saw the Hawks score five times in the eighth inning to take the lead for good, falling 8-7.

Luke Heyer (1-for-4, run scored, two RBI), Ryan Crile (1-for-4, run scored), Christian Khawam (1-for-5, run scored), Justin Ambrosino (2-for-3, two runs scored, RBI, homer), Colby Brown (4-for-5, double, RBI, run scored) and Malik Tatis (3-for-5, RBI, two doubles) led the way at the plate for CF in the loss.

The Patriots scored three runs in the seventh to go ahead 6-3, but were unable to close the deal late.

After HCC scored five runs in the eighth, the Patriots closed to within one with a single run in the bottom half of the frame.

The Hawks, though, were able to survive and improved to 2-0 on the year against CF.

The loss was the Patriots second in three games after a four-game winning streak.

CF starter Cooper Wallace fanned eight in 7 1/3 innings. He allowed six runs on nine hits.

Hunter Halsey took the loss for the Patriots in relief.

Up next for CF is a road game against State College of Florida-Manatee on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. The Patriots won 4-3 over the Manatees in 10 innings in the first meeting of the season. CF trailed 3-1, before rallying past SCF in the initial meeting.