Rollins Tars drop Barry series

The Rollins Tars continue to struggle to shake conference demons midway into Sunshine State Conference play. After a tense 12-inning win over Barry (23-15, 9-9) to start their most recent series, the Tars dropped two on the baseball diamond, putting their record at 18-15, and 5-7 in SSC play.

In a game that saw only one extra base hit through nine innings, the Tars’ most recent loss, closing out the series against Barry, was a struggle from both sides. Rollins starter Brett Mueller gave up 11 hits in four innings before being yanked for Jack Murray, who struck out two in three innings and only gave up a hit.

Meanwhile the Tars struggled to hit the ball, relying on errors and wild pitches for two of their three runs in the game. The Tars’ only RBI would come on an infield squeeze play.

The Tars got a bit of a break before facing Flagler (15-21) for a chance at revenge on Thursday, April 11. That game starts at 6 p.m. with the Tars hosting. In their last meeting on March 26 the Tars lost 11-5 in St. Augustine. If the last game is any indication, it has the makings of a slugfest. The teams combined for five doubles, a triple and three home runs in that game.

This weekend the Tars travel to Florida Tech (25-12, 10-5) in Melbourne for a three-game series, starting at 6 p.m. Friday.

Knights

A frustrating 8-7 loss felled the Knights in their most recent bid to snap a losing streak that started March 30 at Southern Miss. Now five games into it, the Knights (18-15, 4-5) are looking for a turnaround.

They almost had it against Memphis (18-13, 5-4), leading the game until the bottom of the fifth, then tying it up again in the eighth thanks to the heroics of Chris Taladay, who had four two-out RBIs in the game. But a bottom of the eighth double lifted the Tigers by just one run, enough for the win.

Wednesday the Knights faced Interstate 4 rival USF in a grudge match at press time. The Knights lost to USF Feb. 26 in their only other meeting this year. Next season the two will be in the same conference, the newly formed American Athletic Conference.

After that game the Knights travel all the way to Houston for a three-game series at Rice (23-11, 6-3), starting at 7:30 p.m. Friday.