The College of Central Florida Patriots used the familiar formula of power and pitching in defeating Tallahassee Community College 9-5 on Saturday and sweeping the Ocala Regional of the NJCAA South Atlantic Baseball Tournament two games to none. Edrick Felix hit his second home run of the regional to give the Pats an 8-3 lead and essentially sealing the victory. Felix finished the two-game regional going 4-7 with a double, two home runs, five runs scored and 8 RBI. The regional win for the Patriots sends them to the Final Four Championship Round in Lakeland starting Thursday, May 12th. The Pats will open against perennial powerhouse Chipola College at 1:00 PM on Thursday. These two teams are the top two ranked teams in the state of Florida. The winner of the Final Four in Lakeland will earn a spot into the NJCAA Division 1 World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado starting May 28th.
CF got off to a quick start as Caleb Cali tripled home Kevin Kilpatrick and John Marant followed by Victor Castillo launching a home run to deep right field for a 4-0 lead before an out was made in the first inning. The Pats made it 5-0 in the third inning when Castillo doubled home another run. Castillo finished the regional 4-6, 5 runs scored, double, home run and 4 RBI. TCC answered immediately when Ethan Krizen drove home two runs with a double and a Dave Mitchum RBI groundout made it 5-3. With the score 8-3 the Eagles rallied for two runs on a bases loaded walk and a ground out to get within three of the Pats at 8-5. A clutch two out hit by Spencer Stephens pushed the lead to 9-5 in the top of the ninth and Sam Swygert worked a perfect bottom of the ninth inning to earn his second save of the season. Swygert finished the game tossing two innings allowing no hits, no runs and striking out one.
Landon Ginn (8-1) started for the Pats and went 5 innings giving up 4 hits, 3 runs and striking out 5 Eagles to earn the win. Mason Ronan went 2 innings in relief allowing only one hit, one earned run and striking out four.
The following were the leading hitters for the Patriots in the Ocala Regional:
Victor Castillo .667 (4-6), 5R, 4 RBI, double, HR
Edrick Felix .571 (4-7), 5R, 8 RBI, double, 2 HR
Kevin Kilpatrick .571 (4-7), 3R, RBI
Caleb Cali .500 (4-8), 4R, 2 RBI, triple
Spencer Stephens .333 (2-6), RBI