Box Score WINTER HAVEN -- Polk State Baseball's five-game winning streak came to an end on Thursday night as No. 17 College of Central Florida scored seven straight runs to take the series opener, 10-4.
College of Central Florida set the tone with three solo home runs off Polk State starter
JT Long in the first inning. Dawson Harman, Marcus Bradshaw, and Victor Martinez each left the yard as the Patriots raced to a 3-0 lead.
Polk State (18-12, 9-4 Citrus Conference), however, had an answer. The Eagles pushed across four runs in the bottom of the second to take a 4-3 lead with three coming on
Liam O'Neil's third home run of the season.
Josh Cruz singled later in the inning before scoring on a wild pitch.
From there, it was all Central Florida. The Patriots went ahead for good with two runs in the third, capped by Anthony Diaz's RBI single.Central Florida added runs in the fourth and fifth before Harman delivered the big blow with a three-run blast in the sixth to highlight a two-homer, four-RBI night.
Long took the loss for Polk State, allowing seven runs (six earned) in 4.1 innings.
Jason Sawyer and
Vincent Antuna were bright spots out of the bullpen. The two combined to throw three scoreless innings of relief for the Eagles.
Martinez for Central Florida and Polk State's
Kenay Acevedo each finished with three hits.
Simon Scharff finished with a pair of hits for Polk State in the loss.
In its fifth Citrus Conference series of the year, Thursday marked the first time that it has lost the opener. To win a fifth straight Citrus series, the Eagles will need to sweep Saturday's doubleheader in Ocala.
