March 25, 2008
PENSACOLA, Fla. - The University of West Florida baseball team ran head first into what looked like a better baseball team on Tuesday. The North Georgia College & State University Saints beat UWF 12-2 in eight innings. The early action of the game produced a scary moment came when Matt Collins beaned Craig Brisson in the helmet with a fast ball that got away. Brisson fell face first to the ground after the ball banged off his helmet, but then got up and stole second and third base. That seemed to set the tone for rest of the game.
Collins struggled with control, but kept the game close, but was relieved by David Pedro after a few more pitches got away. Pedro came in but only lasted for a little over one inning of work. The Argos only two runs came in the fifth inning closing the gap from 4-0 to 4-2, and things were looking up for the Argos. However, after the fifth inning was over, the Saints came marching in one by one, as they were on their way to 17 total hits, and scored five runs in the sixth inning alone.
Pedro and the Argos gave up five runs in the sixth inning, after the Argos had recorded two outs and a potential force out at first base, fall through, opening the scoring gates for the Saints. Todd Standard was called to relieve Pedro, but couldn't slow down the swatting bats of the Saints. Standard held them for zero runs in the seventh, but the Saints slapped three more runs up on the board before the game was over.
West Florida only managed seven hits off the Saints three pitchers, as they were all singles, including a two run single by Kyle Andrews in the fifth inning. Kyle Brown and Jackson Woodard scored on the Andrews single, which made the score 4-2 at the time. The Argos fell to 15-19 with the loss, while the Saints improved to 17-13 on the season with the victory.
Assistant coach Shane Gierke spoke on the loss. "We were not ready to play today, and we have to learn how to bring it to the park everyday, and we'll try to do that tomorrow." The young Argo team has been a little up and down this season, as they try to come together as a team. West Florida will attempt to step it up tomorrow in a rematch against the Saints at 2:00 p.m. It will be another beautiful day at Pelican Park, and the Argos should be pumped to defend their home field and give the Saints a dose of Argo juice.