The College of Central Florida Patriots (36-14, 13-9) and the St. Johns River State College Vikings (24-20, 10-10) took the field on Monday afternoon both knowing that they had clinched spots in the Mid-Florida Conference tournament scheduled for Saturday and Sunday April 24th and 25th at Seminole State College in Sanford. These same two teams will square off in the opening round of the tournament and this game would only determine who would be the home team in that game. CF rallied from a three-run deficit to defeat the Vikings 4-3 and clinched third place and home team in round one of the tournament.
Central Florida found themselves behind 3-0 in the third inning following two outfield errors and RBI singles from the Vikings' Chase Malloy and J.J. Sousa. Pats' starter, Nick Love was throwing well striking out six and giving up only two hits in his three innings of work but left the game down by three.
CF picked up a run in the fourth inning after Nick Calero was hit by a pitch and Jeslyn Whitehead drove him home with a two out double. The score remained 3-1 until the bottom of the seventh inning when Jackson Taylor led off with a double, Matt Cedarburg was hit by a pitch and Garrett Wallace drove them home to tie the game with a double to right field. Kevin Kilpatrick's line drive single down the left field line drove home Wallace to make the score 4-3. "I was looking for something up to get it into the outfield. It felt great to get the clutch hit. I was in a slump these past few games, but I kept my confidence up and the baseball gods rewarded me." Said Kilpatrick on his game winning hit.
The real stars of the day were the Patriots pitching staff. Besides the great outing from starter Love, a slough of relievers shutout the Vikings over the final six innings. Seth Baugh tossed two innings allowing only one hit and striking out two, Parker Seay had a perfect one-two-three inning with a strikeout, Alfredo Caraballo had one strikeout, no hits in his one inning of work and Troy Britts and Logan Clayton combined to throw the last two innings allowing only two hits with two strikeouts. Caraballo earned the win to improve to 1-0 on the season and Clayton earned his first save of the season.
The Patriots will play their final home game of the season on Wednesday, 3:00 p.m. against the Mid-Florida Conference Champions, Santa Fe College Saints.