MELBOURNE, Fla. -- The Barry Buccaneers lost their Sunshine State Confernce baseball opener 7-4 to the Florida Tech Panthers on Friday night at Seminick-Hall Field.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Florida Tech 7, Barry 4
Records: Florida Tech (8-1, 1-0 SSC) | Barry (2-6, 0-1 SSC)
All-Time Series: Florida Tech leads 69-64

SUMMARY:

• T1 - The Bucs jumped on top in the first inning. Branden Abreu walked and Ihosvany Castaneda was hit by Panther starter Boris Villa. Joe Stella singled to load the bases and Jose Tabares cashed in two runs with a single to right. Stela later scored on a wild pitch. | Bucs 3, Panthers 0 
• T2 - Barry added another run in the second. Steven Torres singled to lead off the inning and scored on a two-out single by Elijah Eusebe. | Bucs 4, Panthers 0
• B2 - Florida Tech started their climb back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning on a bases-loaded walk and sacrifice fly. | Bucs 4, Panthers 2
• T4 - The Panthers grabbed the lead in the fourth with three runs. Jakob Newton had and RBI single, Dylan Dohanos drew a bases-loaded walk and Paul Castilo drove in what proved to be the game-winner with a flay ball. | Panthers 5, Bucs 4
• B7 - Jack Nagy capped the scoring with a two-run single in the eighth. | Panthers 7, Bucs 4

NOTEWORTHY:

• Anthony Bennetti (0-2) took the loss for the Bucs in relief. He allowed three runs on five hits in five innings and struck out five without walking a batter.
• Danny Vassallo (2-0) went six shutout innings in relief of Villa, holding the Bucs to five hits and striking out seven. Andres Rodriguez tossed the last two innings, striking out three to pick up his first save.  
• Abreu, Stella and Torres each had two hits for the Bucs. 
• Nagy was 2-for-2 with three RBI for the Panthers.

ON THE HORIZON:

The Bucs and Panthers conclude the series on Saturday with a doubleheader at 1:00 pm.