Dolphins tie one, lose one in preseason baseball tournament
BY JOSH JURNOVOY Special to the News

Four and 2/3 innings of no hit ball from Greg Tober and a two run homer from Derek Jeter weren't enough to get the Dolphin baseball team a win Thursday night in the Preseason Classic against the West Florida Tech Jaguars. But it was enough to prevent a loss as the Dolphins tied the Jaguars 3-3.

Both teams went hitless the first two and a half innings until the Dolphins junior designated hitter, Kolton Hanke, singled to center in the bottom of the third but was left on base to end the inning.

Greg Tober struck out the side in the fourth inning and in the bottom of the inning, Boomer Harrington singled to center with two outs. Jeter hit a line drive home run over the centerfield fence to put the Dolphins up 2-0.

Tober was pulled and replaced by Cameron Brunty with two outs in the fourth because he reached his pitch limit. He had eight strikeouts and didn't give up a hit.

West Florida cut the lead in half when they got a runner on first as a result of a Brandon Scott throwing error and drove that runner in with two consecutive singles.

Mark Waghalter came in to pitch for Brunty and the Jaguars tied the game in the top of the sixth inning off an RBI double that followed two singles and a sacrifice bunt.

The Dolphins retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning Kolton Hanke drew a walk with the bases loaded forcing Justin Hurd in from third. Harrington had walked and Hurd pinch ran got to second on a passed ball resulting in Jeter being intentionally walked.

T.J. Jordan bunted and everyone was safe loading the bases when Hanke came to bat.

West Florida responded with three straight two out singles in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 3-3.

The Dolphins were unable to take the lead in the bottom of the inning and the game ended in a tie since extra innings are not played in preseason games.

Pine Forest 12,

Gulf Breeze 7

It was two costly errors that lost Gulf Breeze the second and final game of the Preseason Classic against the Pine Forest Eagles.

Pine Forest took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a couple of singles but Gulf Breeze wasted no time answering in the bottom of the inning when Jeter drove in Tyler Gross on a double to left field.

The Dolphins took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Hanke hit his first home run of the year to dead center field.

Pine Forest retook the lead in the top of the third inning with an RBI single and a two run homer to right field to make the score 4-2.

Gulf Breeze went back on top 5-4 in the bottom half of the inning. Jeter homered for the second straight game to dead centerfield driving in Harrington.

Two batters later, Hanke walked with two outs. He then advanced to second on a passed ball and then to third when the catcher's throw back to the pitcher went into centerfield. He then scored on a wild pitch during the same at bat to give Gulf Breeze the lead.

Gulf Breeze made their lead 6- 4 in the bottom of the fourth inning when Brunty scored after Pine Forest's first basemen let a Tyler Gross hit go through his legs.

Then the barrage of unearned runs hit the Dolphins out of nowhere.

Dane Monnin came into pitch relief and Pine Forest made it 6-5 with an RBI single that left runners on first and third. The next batter hit a grounder to third and the Pine Forest player was thrown out in rundown leaving runners on first and second and the next batter singled to load the bases. A ground ball was hit to Hanke at third the next play but Hanke overthrew Jeter at first and two runners scored.

The next Pine Forest batter hit a grounder to center that went through Shane Dorlag's legs and resulted in another two runs for Pine Forest making the score 9-6.

Gulf Breeze made it 9-7 with a Hanke single in the bottom of the inning, but after adding one run in the top of the sixth Pine Forest put the game away with back to back home runs in the top of the seventh inning to make it 12-7, and they handed Gulf Breeze their first loss of the season.

The Dolphins opened the regular season Tuesday at Pace. Gulf Breeze plays at Catholic Friday night. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m.