Titans baseball team wins in 10 innings, advances to state tournament

Another day, another walk-off win for the Eastern Florida State College baseball team.

This time it was in the 10^th inning and sent them to the FCSAA State Baseball Tournament next week.

The Titans defeated St. Petersburg 3-2 in the Wild Card Round at Polk State College Thursday evening to advance to the state tournament for the third time in four seasons.

And they did it in dramatic fashion. Norberto Navarro led off the 10^th inning with a walk, advanced to second base on Sammy Duran's sacrifice bunt and Jeff Korte hit a 2-2 pitch for a single, scoring Navarro.

"If it wasn't for Tommy (Romero) we wouldn't have been in that situation, he dealt all game. When I came up with runners on, I just tried to move the baseball like coach preaches. Just put the ball in play if you have two strikes, you never know what might happen."

Tommy Romero got the start for the Titans and was on top of his game, striking out 12 hitters and allowing just a solo home run in eight strong innings.

"He was throwing hard, hitting his spots and throwing his offspeed stuff for strikes. Everything was working and he got guys to chase pitches they wouldn't normally chase," Korte said. "Every time he is on the mound you know what you are going to get, throwing strikes and getting people out."

Tim Luth came into the game in the ninth inning and allowed one run but picked up the win with a strong 10^th inning.

Elian Merejo got the Titans on the board in the sixth inning, hitting a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, scoring Duran. The Titans would take a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning when, like the 10^th inning, Navarro led off the inning with a single, moved to second on Duran's sacrifice bunt. This time it was Dylan Owens who hit a sharp single to score Navarro.

"When it mattered today, these guys got it done and they deserve this," Eastern Florida State College baseball coach Jeff Tam said. "All that matters is that you get there and now we have the same chances as the other 10 teams. These guys put it together and get hot, that is how you win."

Owens finished 3-for-3 and Korte finished with two hits for the Titans who are now 31-17 and will open the state tournament Friday at 4 p.m. against a team from the Panhandle Conference. The tournament is held at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland.