The #15 NJCAA nationally ranked, College of Central Florida Patriots, used an explosive offense and dominant pitching to make short work of the Santa Fe College Saints, 11-1 in five innings on Thursday afternoon at Goodlett Field.

 

The Patriots opened the scoring in the second inning on a Miles Curley solo home run to deep right center field. It was Curley's second home run of the season. CF then batted around in the third inning sending fourteen batters to the plate with nine of them scoring. Dawson Harman's 12^th home run of the season made it 3-0, followed by an Armando Guirola bases loaded double, which scored two more runs. A Cooper Jones sacrifice fly and bases loaded walks to Harman and Victor Martinez pushed the lead to 8-0. Jacob McKenzie then singled home two more runs for the final runs of the inning and a 10-0 CF lead. 

 

The Saints would get on the scoreboard in the fourth inning on an Erik Blair sacrifice fly that scored Robert Nedry, who had walked, but the Patriots ended the game in the fifth inning via the run-rule when McKenzie and Curley hit back-to-back doubles with two outs to make the final score 11-1. Coach Jon Koenigsfeld on Miles Curley's performance today; "Miles was really impressive today. It was good to see him hit four balls over 100 mph and be locked in for all his at bats."  The win improves the Pats to 24-7 over-all and 10-6 in the Citrus Conference. Santa Fe drops to 15-17 over-all and 7-9 in the Citrus Conference.

 

CF was not only firing on all cylinders offensively, but the pitching performance by Patriots starting pitcher, Brayden Toro, was dominant as well. Toro (2-2) went the distance throwing a five-inning complete game allowing only one hit, one run, three walks with five strikeouts. CF Pitching Coach JC Sanner Said; "I'm extremely proud of how Brayden competed today and made bat by bat adjustments to keep their great lineup off balance. He set the tone for us."

 

Leading hitters for the game: Harman (1-3, 2R, 3 RBI, HR(12) / McKenzie (2-3, 2R, 2 RBI, 2B) / Curley (2-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR(2) / Guirola (2-2, R, 2 RBI, 2B)

 

Patriots' third baseman, Dawson Harman was awarded the NJCAA National Player of the Week honor for last week when he hit four home runs with two doubles and had ten runs batted in. Harman is committed to play at the University of South Carolina next season. 

 

"It's always good to get that first game of the series, but we know Coach Wiggs will have his Saints ready to play this Saturday. It's never easy winning at Santa Fe, so we can't let our guard down and come prepared both mentally and physically." Assistant Coach, David Houtz

 

The final two games of the three-game series will be played at Harry Tholen Field on the campus of Santa Fe College in Gainesville on Saturday. First game begins at Noon.