MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Kentucky Wesleyan College baseball team opened its series at Florida Tech with an 8-2 win on Monday night.  Alex Franzen picked up his first win of the season on the mound while Cody Bridges finished three-for-four with two RBI's.

The Panthers didn't put on a runner on base until the third when Ben Wilcoxson laced a double down the right field line with one out.  Back-to-back singles from Reece Puckett and Bridges allowed Wilcoxson to score before Kennemore drove in Puckett to put Wesleyan ahead 2-0.

Wilcoxson laid down a sacrifice bunt in the top of the fourth to move Ethan Maxey and Brayden Sisson into scoring position with two outs.  Puckett drove in both runners with a single to left field.  Bridges brought home Puckett with a double down the left field line to extend Wesleyan's lead to 5-0.

Three straight singles in the bottom of the fourth allowed Florida Tech to get two runs back.  The Panthers wouldn't score after that as they were held to just three hits in the final five innings.

Wesleyan added on three more runs in the top of the ninth.  Joseph Burke and Ostin Clark recorded back-to-back RBI singles before Burke scored the Panthers final run on a wild pitch.

Franzen went 6.2 innings, striking out five and allowing two runs off of eight hits while allowing zero walks.  In 1.1 innings of relief, Bo Robison held Florida Tech to one hit and zero runs.  Ike Speiser closed out the ninth innings, striking out two and holding the Panthers scoreless.

Bridges, Kennemore, Sisson and Puckett each had a multi-hit game while Bridges and Puckett paced the team with two RBI's.

The Panthers close out the series at Florida Tech on Tuesday at 5 pm CT in Melbourne, Fla.

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