WINTER HAVEN – Polk State Baseball's Sophomore Night began and ended with a celebration. The Eagles honored 11 outgoing sophomores before the game began and closed by celebrating a third straight FCSAA Tournament appearance with a 4-3 walk-off win over St. Petersburg College in 11 innings on Wednesday night.

On a night where pitching dominated, back-to-back wild pitches from St. Petersburg closer Leonard Bravo allowed Polk State's Nelson Taylor to score the winning run. Taylor finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored, an RBI, and a stolen base. His well-placed double to lead off the bottom of the 11th put the Eagles (31-18, 13-7 Suncoast Conference) in position to win the game.

"That was an intense conference game," Head Coach Al Corbeil said. "It was a battle back and forth. It had all the intensity of a playoff game."

After taking the loss on Monday night, Ryan Combs threw three shutout innings of relief to pick up the win. St. Petersburg nearly took the lead in the top of the 11th as Coltin Pizzio tried to score from second with two outs on a slow ground ball. After a slight hesitation, Aaron Stelogeannis was able to gun him out at the plate to end the threat.

In his longest outing since Feb. 20, starting pitcher Jaydon Bishop was stellar for Polk State. In five shutout innings, the sophomore lefty allowed no hits, two walks, and struck out four.

For St. Petersburg, Braeden Cochran was nearly as impressive, working eight innings and allowing just three runs on five hits and two walks. Cochran struck out six for the Titans and received a no-decision.

The Eagles got the scoring started with a two-run fourth. Travis Stapleton's RBI single plated the first run. Later in the inning, Cole Griffith drove home another run with a double – the game's lone extra-base hit before the 11th.

Down 2-0, St. Petersburg drew even in the top of the sixth. Two runs scored on an RBI infield single from Brett Wagner. The Titans took their first lead in the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Sebastian Burgos.

Trailing 3-2, Polk State drew even with an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth. After Ray Mercer reached on a throwing error, Stelogeannis was able to bunt him into scoring position. Mercer scored the tying run on a seeing-eye single up the middle off the bat of Taylor.

In addition to stellar efforts from Bishop and Combs, the Eagles also got a scoreless inning from lefty Josh Texidor in the seventh. Polk State pitchers yielded just four hits on the night. Offensively, Griffith added two of the seven hits for the Eagles.

The victory gives Polk State its ninth FCSAA Tournament berth in 13 years under Corbeil and eliminates the Titans from postseason contention. Polk also takes the season series from St. Petersburg by a tally of five games to three.

"I'm really proud of this group," Corbeil added. "We battled adversity and injuries all year long. Some freshmen really grew up for us. I'm really happy for our guys."

The Eagles trail State College of Florida-Manatee by two games in the Suncoast Conference race as the teams get set to begin a four-game set on Friday in Winter Haven. Polk State can win the conference by sweeping the series or can force a winner-take-all fifth game by taking three of four.