Florida Memorial University’s baseball team showed it can win in multiple ways Friday, defeating host Edward Waters College in a 15-2 rout in the first game of the day’s doubleheader and edging out the Tigers 2-1 in the second game of the day.
FMU’s bats were awake early Friday, as the Lions jumped out to a 6-run lead in the first inning of the opening game. That lead swelled to 7-0 in the top of the fourth and grew to 9-0 in the top of the fifth. Edward Waters (0-6) got on the board in the bottom of the fifth – manufacturing 2 runs thanks to a string of hits.
The Lions put an exclamation point on their victory in the first game by tacking on another 6 runs in the top of the sixth inning, cementing the final 15-2 score.
Offense was at much more of a premium in the second game of the doubleheader.
After playing scoreless through the first two innings, Florida Memorial broke the game open with a pair of runs in the top of the third. The Lions’ pitching staff kept the lid on Edward Waters’ batters through the bottom of the sixth inning until the Tigers got a solo home run to cut FMU’s lead in half.
Florida Memorial couldn’t tack on any insurance runs in the top of seventh but was able to shut the door on the Tigers defensively in the bottom of seventh, holding on for the 2-1 victory.
The Lions (2-0) will look to complete the sweep of their HBCU rival Saturday when the teams meet for a single game – 12 p.m. at James P. Small Memorial Baseball Park.