Delta Drops Two to Lincoln

Winter Haven, Florida -  The Delta men's baseball team dropped their first two games of the season on Monday, losing to Lincoln Junior College 9-4 in game one before losing 8-4 in game two.  The losses drop the Pioneers to 4-2 on the season.

Game one saw Lincoln jump out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on two hit batters, two walks and a ground out.  Delta answered in the bottom of the first, however, as Zack Booth singled and scored ahead of Grant Slomkowski on a double steal to make it 2-1.  Ty Jones would then lace a two out double to plate Slomkowksi and Ty Robbins to make the score 3-2.

Delta upped the score to 4-2 in the third when Slomkowski doubled, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a Dean Marais sacrifice fly.  That's where the score remained until the fifth inning when disaster struck for the Pioneers as Lincoln sent 12 players to the plate in a six run outburst to take a 8-4 lead.

From there, Lincoln would up their lead to 9-4 with a single run in the seventh and Delta wouldn't threaten again.  Jake Gross (0-1) took the loss on the hill while Slomkowski, Jones and Booth led the offense with two hits each.   

The woes continued into game two for Delta as Lincoln plated two runs in the first, two runs in the second and four in the third to take an 8-2 lead that the Pioneers would never recover from.  Thomas Fortney took the loss on the hill, surrendering six earned runs on ten hits while striking out three.  Z Westley had an RBI double to lead the Delta offense.

"We went from one end of the spectrum to the other," said head coach Danny Smith.  "Yesterday we were hitting on all cylinders and today we struggled with every facet of the game."

Delta has an off day on Tuesday before playing a DH against Kalamazoo Valley Community College on Wednesday.  First pitch is scheduled for 12:45 PM at Auburndale, Florida.