Eighth Inning Explosion Leads Raiders to Victory

HANCEVILLE, Ala. – A big four-run eighth inning propelled No. 4 Northwest Florida State baseball to an 8-3 victory over Wallace State on Wednesday.

Leading 4-3 with two outs in the eighth, Carlos Guzman laced a double to left to keep the inning alive. Two pitches later, Tyler Kehoe followed with a double of his own to make it a 5-3 game. But the big damage came after Austin Turner drew a walk then Reagan Burford crushed a 1-0 pitch over the wall in left for a three-run home run to open up an 8-3 advantage for the Raiders.

NWF (4-2) has now won four straight games and has allowed just four runs over the last three contests.

Dante Chirico got the start on the mound and tossed three innings. He surrendered one run on four hits. Christian Mracna pitched two innings in relief allowing one run on a pair of hits. Caleb Reis went the final four frames and gave in a run on two hits with three strikeouts.

The Raiders got the scoring going in the first with consecutive RBI singles from Austin Kelly and Luke Boynton. Turner made it a 3-1 game with a run-scoring single in the second.

After Wallace State closed the gap to 3-2, Kehoe singled home Seth Williams in the sixth to put NWF back on top by two, 4-2.

Northwest Florida State is set to play its home opener on Friday at 1 p.m. against TNXL Academy. The teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon.

For more information on Northwest Florida State Athletics, visit NWFRaiders.com or follow the team on Twitter at @NWFRaiders.