Bucs Sink Commodores; Clinches Series

Bucs Sink Commodores; Clinches Series 

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - No. 9 Shelton State piled up 17 runs and 22 hits in a 17-2 run-rule victory against No. 12 Gulf Coast State on Friday afternoon at Frazier Field.

Shelton State (9-1) has scored 28 runs in the first two games of the series and goes for the sweep on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m.

Sophomore shortstop Paxton Ponder and freshman second baseman James Graphos led the offensive charge, going  7-for-11 with five runs scored and six RBIs.

Ponder had four hits, three runs scored and three RBIs, all career highs. Graphos had three hits and three RBIs.

Sophomore right fielder Mason Steele, sophomore left fielder Hayes Alford and freshman catcher Grant Browning all had multi hit or multi RBI games. 

Steele had three hits and scored two runs. Alford had two hits and three RBIs. Browning added three hits and three RBIs.

Gulf Coast State (11-4) allowed 33 runs in its first 13 games of the year. The Bucs have scored 28 runs in two games. 

The Bucs have scored 10 or more runs six times this season, including the last four games. The Bucs have won 26 straight games when scoring double figures.

Shelton State struck first with five runs in the second inning. 

Sophomore first baseman Brady Waugh started the inning with a double to right. Sophomore DH Tripp Gann followed with a walk. With one out, Ponder smacked a double to right to score Waugh with the first run.

Browning followed with an RBI single to score Gann and make it 2-0. Sophomore centerfielder Pierce Dutton brought Ponder home with an RBI ground out and Steele plated Browning with an RBI single. Graphos reached on an error that scored Steele to make it 5-0.

The Bucs stretched the lead to 7-0 with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Freshman third baseman Slade Sullivan and Ponder stroked back-to-back triples to make it 6-0. Browning followed with an RBI single to score Ponder to push the lead to 7-0.

Shelton State scored three more runs in the sixth to stretch the lead to 10-0. Henderson delivered a two-run single to  score Steele and Graphos. Waugh scored on an error by the left fielder.

Ponder added an RBI double and Browning added an RBI single to make it 12-0.

Jack Reynolds' two-run homer in the sixth inning accounted for the Commodores scoring. 

Alford had a two-run single in the seventh to push the lead to 14-2.

Graphos had a two-run double and Alford added an RBI groundout in the eighth to cap the scoring.

While the offense showed out on Friday, the pitching was equally impressive.

Freshman Konner Keplinger (1-0) tossed three scoreless innings for the win. He limited the Commodores to two hits and struck out four.

Freshman Will Harrison allowed two runs on three hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked two batters.

Freshman Kenneth Diddell retired all four batters he faced and struck out one.

Ka'olu Holt (3-1) took the loss. He allowed seven runs and 11 hits in five innings.