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April 18

Falcons hold off Vikings to stay in playoff race

The Daytona State College Falcons rallied late to beat conference rivals St. John's River Community College 13-8. After going down 7-3 in the fifth inning, DSC fought back behind sophomore, John Gainey's excellent pitching, to improve to 25-13 overall and 11-10 in the Mid-Florida Conference.

Heading into the bottom of the fifth, down 7-3, DSC freshman Eric Grabe hit a solo home run that started a four run inning, which tied the game. The inning included a two-run single by sophomore, Rob Hill. Hill highlighted the Falcons' offense, going 3-4 with five RBI's.

"Every time you get out there and score it's a plus," Hill said about his performance. "Having a good game definitely gives you confidence for the next game, especially when the offense is struggling, but today everything was clicking and hopefully we can carry it into the next game."

After tying the game at seven in the fifth inning, the Falcons' never looked back, scoring six runs over the next three innings. The six runs were plenty of support for relief pitcher, John Gainey, who only allowed one run in four innings of work, including 5 strikeouts. "Going into a tie game, my only focus was getting the batters out," Gainey said. "I knew our offense was clicking today, so my only goal was to keep SJRCC from scoring."

Even though DSC was down four runs in the fifth, they were able to make a comeback behind excellent defense, great pitching and some late game offensive support. Being down that late in the game would make most coaches nervous, but DSC head coach Tim Touma had confidence in his team.

"Both teams were low on pitchers and I knew once we got past their starter, they didn't have much left," Touma said. "I figured if we could keep it close, with the pitchers we had, then we could get to our closer, Casey Medlen. Gainey pitched his best game of the season, so we didn't even have to go to Casey. Gainey was the key to the game and I was very impressed with his performance today."

The Falcons have only three games left in the regular season, all of which are conference games. Only two games out of the playoff race, these last three games are very important to the Falcons. DSC will be in action again, on the road in Jacksonville, against the Florida Community College of Jacksonville on Monday April 20. Their next home game will be on Wednesday April 22 against Santa Fe College @ 3 p.m.

123 456 789 R H E

SJRCC 003 040 010 8 11 1

DSC 030 040 42- 13 14 2

WP - Gainey (DSC) LP - Crawford (SJRCC)

DSC 2B - Leino(2), Hill, Vracar, Knox HR - Grabe RBI - Hill(5), Leino(3), Vracar(2), Knox(2), Grabe

SJRCC 2B - Smith 3B - de la Osa, Juneau HR - Ketchum, Lane RBI - Ketchum(2), Smith, de la Osa, Piccolo, Bradley, Moore, Lane

April 6

Harapas sacrifices for Falcons and victory

Daytona State College freshman Dino Harapas hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth inning scoring Brian Leino and put the Falcons up 2-0 in an eventual 2-1 win over the Florida Community College of Jacksonville. The Falcons improve to 8-8 in the Mid-Florida Conference and 22-11 overall for the season.

Starting pitcher Matt Hummel threw a fantastic game, striking out 10 batters, only walking two and allowing just one run in 7 2/3 innings. With some great defense behind him, Hummel retired 11 hitters in a row, not to mention striking out FCCj's, Frank Cody, all four times he came to the plate.

"I'm not out there keeping track of how many strikeouts I have, I actually had no idea I struck out one of their hitters all four times," Hummel said about his outing this afternoon. "With the wind blowing in and most of the hits going right to the defense, which played very well today, I just go out there and throw strikes"

The Falcons defense was spectacular against conference rivals FCCJ. Sophomore Bobby Rauh made a throw from center field that would have made Roberto Clemente proud nailing FCCJ's Josh Barrs at the plate as he was trying to tag up from third base.

"Coach always stresses about hitting the cut-off man," Rauh said about the play. "It was a one-run game and I just wanted to make sure he didn't score. If he scores, we would have gone into the ninth inning tied instead of up a run."

Casey Medlen came in to close out the game for Hummel and keep the Falcons alive in the Mid-Florida Conference.

DSC is embarking on a four game road trip which includes all conference games and a few chances to make up some ground in the M-FC. The Falcons next game will be against Santa Fe College in Gainesville on Wednesday, April 8 and they will not return to their home field until Saturday, April 18 at 1 p.m., where they will be playing St. John's River.

123 456 789 R H E

FCCj 000 000 010 1 6 0

DSC 000 110 00- 2 6 1

WP - Hummel (DSC) SV - Medlen (DSC)

DSC - 2B - Lucas RBI - Harapas

FCCj - 2B - Barrs HR - Amargo RBI - Amargo

April 3

Falcons lose tough game to conference rival

Daytona State could not rally back to overcome a one run deficit Friday afternoon against Central Florida Community College in a 5-4 loss. The Falcons are now 7-7 in the Mid-Florida Conference, 21-10 overall, and in a third-place tie with St. Johns River Community College. Frank DeJuilio of Daytona State and Matt Gendron of Central Florida, were locked in a heated pichers' duel until the top of the fourth inning when CFCC scorched DeJuilio for three runs.

"With an inning like that, it makes me just want out come back harder," DeJuilio said about the breakdown during the fourth. "As a pitcher you need stuff like that. It helps build experience."

Dejuilio settled down after the fourth, only allowing two runs in the next three innings. Daytona relief pitcher Casey Medlen only gave up a single run in two innings of work, but the Falcons' bats were nowhere to be found. Usually Daytona State can put the numbers up on the score board, but CFCC pitcher, Matt Gendron had their number.

Freshman Dino Harapas tried to get a rally started in the bottom of the sixth innings with a two-run single which tied the game at 4-4, but Daytona left two runners stranded without scoring another run in the inning.

With the game tied at four in the top of the eighth inning DeJuilio walked the first two batters, one of which was knocked in by a single, as Casey Medlen came in to relieve DeJuilio. The infield single gave the Patriots a 5-4 lead.

The close, safe call at first base by the infield umpire may have prevented CFCC from scoring a run in the eight inning, but DSC Head Coach Tim Touma says the game was lost long before the call.

"We played horribly today and that's what disappoints me. Everyone wants to blame the loss on the umpire, but we lost the game. We made the mistakes and if we don't make those, the bad call does not make a difference." Touma went on to add, "It's not the close games that get to me, it's the fact that this was a conference loss. No matter what the score is, it's a mark in the loss column"

123 456 789 R H E

CFCC 000 311 010 5 8 3

DSC 000 130 000 4 7 2

WP - Gendron 4-3 (CFCC) LP - DeJuilio 5-2 (DSC)

DSC - RBI - Hill, Harapas(2)

CFCC - 2B - Derstine RBI - Stalls(2), Penate, Mesa

March 30

Falcons hang on for vital conference victory

Five of the first six Daytona State College batters were gunned down by the Lake Sumter Community College starting pitcher, Jacob Davis. Davis's domination would only last two scoreless innings, as the Falcons broke the game open with 10 runs in the following three innings, winning the game 10-8. The win improved the Falcons to 21-9 overall and 7-6 in the Mid-Florida Conference.

Daytona State freshman, Nick Radomski, led the Falcons three inning barrage with two base-hits, two R.B.I.s and scored three runs. Sophomore, Bobby Rauh, went 3-5 and was just a home-run shy of hitting for the cycle.

With a 10-2 lead in the top of the sixth inning and two-runners on, starting pitcher Matt Hummel, was replaced with sophomore, John Gainey.

"I tried throwing too many strikes and got hit around a little," Hummel said. Even though Hummel had a runner on in each of his six innings of work, he only allowed two runs, "I just focus on the batter. If I get him out, then we don't have to worry about the runners."

The Falcons gave up two runs in each of the next three innings, bringing the Lakers to within two runs going into the ninth.

"I think we've had to fight like that a couple times this year," Daytona State head coach Tim Touma said about almost losing the big lead. "The last pitcher that came in has been drafted, so we knew we had to jump out to an early lead. The strategy was working, but a combination of bad defense and poor pitching put us in that bad position."

Sophomore relief pitcher, Casey Medlen, was able to hold the Lakers scoreless in the ninth and get the save as the Falcons move into a four-way tie for second place in the M-FC.

Daytona will be in action at home on Friday, April 3rd, at 2:30 p.m. against Central Florida Community College, another important conference game.

LSCC 001 012 220 8 9 2

DSC 002 350 00- 10 12 2

WP - Hummel (DSC) LP - Davis (LSCC) SV - Medlen (DSC)

DSC - 2B - Rauh, Hill 3B - Rauh RBI - Radomski (2), Knox, Wright, Harapas, Lucas, R. Hill

LSCC - 2B - Scanlon, Crangle RBI - Okey(2), Scanlon, Crangle, Schneider, Bellatoni, B. Hill

Daytona State gets revenge on Lake Sumter

Daytona State College starting pitcher Matt Hummel set the tone for the Falcons early, retiring the first three batters in an eventual 18-8 shellacking of the Lake Sumter Community College Lakers. The victory improved DSC's conference record to 5-5 (18-8 overall), bringing them within one game of second place in the Mid-Florida Conference.

The Falcons blew the game wide open in the bottom of the first inning, scoring nine runs on nine hits, which included a three-run home run by sophomore, Bobby Rauh. Lake Sumter starting pitcher, Nick Wilson, didn't make it through the first third of the first inning before being pulled.

Zach Lucas finished off the scoring barrage with a two-run double in his first game back from a concussion.

"We are really glad to have Zach back," said Coach Touma about missing the previous two games. "Defensively, he's an improvement over what we have been putting out there."

Baker Knox, who has been a sparkplug for the Falcons all season, was no different in this game. Knox went 3-4 with two doubles, a single, 3 RBI's and a whole slew of game-saving defensive plays.

"We all want the chance to make the big play," Knox said about his performance in today's game. "I just got a lot of opportunities. We all want to win."

Daytona State's win could be viewed as payback for a 15-5 loss to Lake Sumter on March 21. The two schools are both fighting for position in the Mid-Florida Conference making this a very important victory for the Falcons.

"We jumped out to such a big lead, scoring the nine runs in the first and kind of lost our tempo," Coach Touma said after the game, "We need to stay tight throughout the whole game. I was getting uneasy, because our tempo was slowing and I knew these guys could score a lot of runs on us."

DSC's next conference game will be on Friday March 27th, against St. John's River Community College at 3pm @ Falcon Field.

123 456 789 R H E

LSCC 010 113 2-- 8 10 1

DSC 901 205 1-- 18 15 1

WP - Hummel 5-1 (DSC) LP - Wilson (LSCC)

DSC - 2B - Knox(2), Lucas, Grabe, Vracar 3B - Rauh HR - Rauh RBI - Gabe(3), Wright(2), Vracar, Rauh (3), Knox (3), Leino, Lucas (2)

LSCC - 2B - Sparrow, Scanlon, Ballatoni 3B - Hill, Diaz HR - Hill RBI - Hill(2), Scanlon, Diaz, Johnson

March 20

Falcons give up important game to Central Florida

It appeared that Daytona State had things under control when right fielder Matt Wright gunned down Central Florida first baseman Dan Harper at the plate to save a run in the top of the first inning. This would be one of only a few good plays the defense had all day, as errors cost the Falcons in a 12-9 loss to Central Florida Community College Patriots.

The Falcons defense could not seem to finds itself, committing seven errors in a crucial conference game. With the loss Daytona dropped from 4th, to possibly out of the top 10 in the Mid-Florida Conference. Only the top two teams of the conference will advance to post season play.

Starting pitcher, Frank DeJuilio, pitched a nice game throwing four and two thirds innings, with three strikeouts and three hits.

"I just go out there and make my pitches," DeJuilio said about the defense. "I can only worry about what I throw and not what goes on behind me."

Relief pitcher, Casey Medlen, only gave up four hits in four and one third innings of work. Although Medlen allowed just four hits, seven runs were scored during his time on the mound.

Nick Radomski gave the Falcons a lift in the bottom of the fourth inning with his second grand slam of the year before CFCC took the lead for good in a four run seventh inning.

With two outs in the top of the 9th inning and a runner on second, CFCC's Dane Derstian hit what appeared to be the final out of the inning. Even though the base umpire called the runner out, the home plate umpire overruled him, calling the runner safe and allowing another run to score.

"We actually made eight errors today. My arguing that last call, took way an error on the scoreboard, so it was worse than what the number said," Daytona State head coach Tim Touma said about the poor defense. "Errors are the worst thing, because it raises the pitch count and you end up losing a quality pitcher like DeJuilio. We definitely need to tighten that up."

CFCC 010 320 402 12 12 3

DSC 104 001 030 9 11 7

WP - Luksha (CFCC) LP - Medlen (DSC)

DSC - 2B - Grabe, Wright HR - Radomski RBI - Radomski (4), Vracar (2), Grabe (2), Rauh

CFCC - RBI - Smith, Zech (2), Mesa, Jones (2), Seese

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