By Brian Thornsburg /
[dropcap]A[/dropcap] little rain and some cold weather wasn’t enough to stop the Seminole State Raiders as they were able to knock off Indian River 5-2 in their home opener on Feb 6.
Seminole State remained in firm control throughout the contest, holding Indian River scoreless until the 5th inning. That was in large part due to the top notch pitching power of Cameron Peppiatt and Pedro Rodrigues who made sure that Indian River was never able to catch up to The Raiders during the rain shortened 7 inning game. In fact, Peppiatt left Indian River scoreless through 5 innings of the game.
Peppiatt stayed strong throughout most of the game, but was eventually relieved by Rodrigues after he allowed 2 runs in the 6th inning. Rodrigues only allowed 2 hits in the final 2 innings of the game, which helped the home team keep Indian River behind until the game was called.
“I felt we did good,” Rodriguez told The Seminole Scribe when asked about his feelings on the day’s game. “We executed plays and put some hits together that kept us on top, overall they (Indian River) put up a fight but we came out on top”
When asked about if the weather played a factor in Indian River’s scoring late in game, Rodriguez stated that “It did at that point it’s just dealing with elements that are out of your control all you can do is adapt to the situation and I feel that me and Peppiatt adapted as well as we could.”
Peppipat finished the game with 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 balls and 7 strikes out throughout the first part of the game. Rodrigues finished the game with only 2 allowed hits before the game was eventually called in the 7th inning due to worsening weather conditions.
Pitching wasn’t the Raiders only strong suit last Saturday, as they were able to score early and often against a seemingly dazed Indian River College outfield. The flurry of offense started with Rhett Alpin, who nailed the ball out of the park for the very first score of the game. He then took a little victory lap and was cheered all the way home by his teammates. Unfortunately for Indian River, it would only get worse.
Aj Makarewicz continued the scoring blitz in the third, scoring another run for The Raiders and bringing the score up to 2-0 in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Spencer Levine kept things going after that, helping Rhett Alpin get to home plate with a timely hit late in the 3rd inning of the game.
The scoring continued in the 4th inning, as Mykel Gordon sent another ball flying towards the fence, which allowed Trisen Rojas to run home for The Raiders’ fourth score of the game. The Raiders scored their final late in the 6th inning, when AJ Makarwicz sent the ball flying into outfield, which allowed Mikel Gordon to run home.
Things weren’t all rosy though, as Indian River batter, Seddon Henry, was able to connect with the ball and send it sprawling towards the outfield in the 6th inning. The hit was enough to send both Edward McKenna and Austin Hamlion to home plate for the visiting team.
With the rain starting to drench the players and with the game close to being called, Christopher Fitzpatrick tried to play spoiler for The Raiders with a nice hit late in the 7th inning, but he was later tagged before he found fellow teammate, Tyler Leonard, who could get to home plate and bring their team with one run of The Raiders.
- Brian Thornsburg can be reached at brian@theseminolescribe.com