Nichols Homers, Raiders Defeat Baton Rouge

NICEVILLE, Fla. – Despite a weather delay of nearly three hours, fourth-ranked Northwest Florida baseball came out swinging a hot bat in an 11-5 win over Baton Rouge Wednesday at the Raiders Baseball Complex.

NWF (6-2) scored all 11 of its runs in the first six innings and got solid relief pitching to preserve the victory.

Baton Rouge got the scoring started in the first with a pair of RBI single to take a 2-0 lead. The Raiders answered in style in the bottom of the second when Cherokee Nichols launched a two-run home run to left. According to YakkerTech technology installed at the ballpark, the homer exited the bat at 105 mph and traveled an approximate 401 feet.

Seth Williams drove home two runs in the third on a single to right to give Northwest Florida a 4-2 lead.

After the Bears took a 5-4 advantage in the fourth, the Raider bats came to life. Tyler Kehoe earned a walk to lead off the bottom half of the frame. Reagan Burford then drove him in two batter later and Trace Willhoite followed with a single to add another run and put NWF back on top, 6-5.

The Raiders added four runs in the fifth courtesy of a Williams sac fly, a Nichols RBI single, and a Kehoe two-RBI double.

Thomas Wilhite got the start and tossed 3.1 innings. Caleb Reis entered in relief and struck out five over 3.2 innings of work. Stephen Restuccio closed out the game with two innings of scoreless ball.

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