By DAN HOEHNE
daniel.hoehne@newssun.com
Monday night's loss at Polk State notwithstanding, the South Florida State baseball team is making some noise.
Actually, Monday's 9-8, 10-inning loss was further evidence of the turnaround.
In the three-game series against their Suncoast Conference and inter-county rival, all three games were decided by one run - which is saying something considering the lopsided look of each teams' season record.
Polk stands at 25-7 while South Florida is 10-26, and yet the Panthers stood toe-to-toe with the Eagles in all three games, including Saturday's 2-1 win at home.
After Polk scratched for the game's first run Saturday in the top of the third, SFSC answered back and tied it in the bottom of the frame on a Carlos Matamoros RBI double.
From there, starter Travis McPherson held the Eagles in check through the sixth inning, before Kevin Schubert came on in relief in the seventh.
After a one, two, three top of the seventh, the Panthers got the tie-breaker in the bottom of the frame.
With two out, Matamoros drew a walk and moved to second when Seth Abeln was hit by a pitch.
Lucas Bagnara then bounced one up the middle that got through, bringing Matamoros around for the go-ahead score.
Polk would get a one-out single in the eighth, but Schubert worked around it to keep the lead and then worked a perfect ninth to seal the win.
"Pitching is the key for us and it's improved so much," head coach Rick Hitt said. "The first 25 games, the staff got pretty beat up and it's taken us a while to where we can settle in and find our rhythm.
"We're not a team that's going to be hitting a lot of three-run homers, so we've got to pitch well and keep games close," he continued. "But we've made some adjustments on defense and with the line-up which seems to be starting to click."
It didn't click quite enough Monday night, but being able to play a top-tier team virtually even through a three-game set is surely a sign of progress.
South Florida is back to the Suncoast schedule today and Friday as they play host to St. Petersburg College with 6 p.m. start times.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - www.newssun.com/WED-03-20-13-SFSCBaseball