Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

FORT PIERCE, Fla. – The Gettysburg College baseball team earned a split on the second day of its Spring Break trip to Florida on Monday.
 
The Bullets (1-5-1) opened with a 3-2, 10-inning loss to Eastern Nazarene, but came back to post a 10-5 victory over Messiah for its first victory of the season.
 
Senior Connor Tom (Reinholds, Pa./Conrad Weiser) stayed hot offensively, going 7-for-10 with two doubles and a triple over the two games, including a 4-for-5 performance against Messiah. Tom is now batting a team-leading .548 on the season.
 
Freshmen Danny Brace (Berwyn, Pa./Devon Prep) and John Braun (Ambler, Pa./La Salle College) teamed up for the win on the mound in the second game, with Brace throwing five innings in his collegiate debut to pick up the win. Braun worked four innings to earn his first career save.
 
Against Eastern Nazarene, senior Rich Power (Toms River, N.J./Monsignor Donovan) registered a solid performance, allowing just two runs (one earned) on six hits over six innings. He struck out nine, marking the fourth-highest punch-out total of his career. Power's first seven outs came via strikeouts.
 
The Lions (4-4) never trailed after pushing across an unearned run in the top of the second before No. 7 hitter Nick Story homered leading off the fourth to make it 2-0. However, Power went on to retire the final six batters he would face.
 
Gettysburg put runners on base in four of the first five innings but was unable to capitalize versus starter Cameron Fiorentino. The Bullets broke through in the sixth, when sophomore Brendan Wright (Bayville, N.Y./Locust Valley) led off with a double before scoring on a two-out single by freshman Tate Frodsham (McKinney, Texas/McKinney North).
 
The Bullets pulled even in the seventh. Freshman Joe Giovinco (Stirling, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) reached on an error leading off, was bunted to second by classmate Tyler Mitchell (Arnold, Md./Broadneck), and scored on a two-out single by Tom.
 
Eastern Nazarene went back in front in the eighth, scoring once on three straight two-out singles versus sophomore reliever Will Wortmann (Bedford, N.Y./Fox Lane). But with runners on first and second, Wortmann escaped with a strikeout, then fired a scoreless ninth.
 
Gettysburg rallied again in the bottom of the ninth, when Giovinco again reached on an error leading off. He would score two batters later on a single from junior Chuck Probst (North Bend, Pa./Bucktail).
 
The Lions went back in front in the 10th, however, on a two-out double from No. 5 hitter Steven Pesce.
 
The Bullets threatened in the bottom of the inning, putting the tying run in scoring position versus reliever Alex Way. Senior Will Anderson (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) ripped a one-out single before classmate Ellis Bloom (Princeton, N.J./Princeton) drew a two-out walk. But Way ended the game with a strikeout.
 
Tom finished 3-for-5 with a double in the opener while Probst and Frodsham each stroked a pair of hits. Wortmann (0-1) was charged with the loss, yielding two runs on five hits and a pair of walks over four innings.
 
Way (2-0) allowed just an unearned run over three innings to earn the win. Fiorentino came away with a no-decision despite racking up 12 strikeouts over seven innings.
 
Gettysburg's offense was in high gear against Messiah, as the Bullets pounded out a season-high 15 hits, with every starter contributing at least one hit. Probst set the tone with a leadoff double before junior Logan Sneed (Newtown, Pa./Germantown Academy), making his first appearance of the season, followed up with a single. Anderson would bring home Probst with a sacrifice fly before Wright singled in Sneed, making it 2-0 after a half inning of play.
 
The Bullets pushed across three runs on three hits and an error in the third to assume a 5-0 advantage. Tom and Anderson drove in runs with a double and a triple, respectively, while Wright capped the inning with a sac fly.
 
The Falcons (3-3) reached Brace with a single run in the third, but Gettysburg broke the game open with a three-run fifth. Freshman Dominick Gasparro (Clarksburg, N.J./Princeton Day School), Mitchell, and junior Tyler Sadowski (Manchester, Md./North Carroll) capped the inning with consecutive run-scoring singles.
 
Messiah scored a pair of runs in the fifth to make it 8-3 before the Bullets answered with a run in the sixth on an RBI-triple from Tom. Braun was summoned out of the bullpen in the bottom of the inning and Messiah scored twice to make it a four-run game; however, Braun would blank the Falcons the rest of the way. Gettysburg set the final score with a run in the eighth.
 
Giovinco finished 3-for-4 against Messiah while Sneed scored three runs.
 
Brace scattered three runs on five hits and three walks while striking out three. Braun allowed two runs on five hits and a pair of walks while also fanning three.
 
Gettysburg resumes its southern swing on Tuesday, when it takes on Westminster in a single nine-inning game at 10 a.m.