The Shorter baseball team fell to Florida Tech in the final game of the three-game series, 8-4, to start the season. Florida Tech was able to claim all three games of the series.

Florida Tech started the scoring in the first inning David Johannssen was able to plate Jorge Chavarria, who had reached on a leadoff triple.

The scoring was on hold for the next four innings, with the Hawks tying the game in the top of the sixth when Michael Miranda connected on his first home run of the season.

Florida Tech drove four runs across the plate in the bottom of the sixth, when Scott Carcaise’s triple scored Andrew Bartlett and Johannssen.

Tyler Doughty singled in the next at bat to bring Carcaise home. Doughty scored later off the bat of Jimmie Koch.

Florida Tech scored three more times in the bottom of the seventh, with Koch providing a two-RBI single to bring his total to three for the game.

Chad Ikerd drove in two runs in the top of the eighth with a double to left center, scoring Jesse Gavigan and Miranda. The final run of the day for the Hawks was scored in the top of the ninth when Dustin Evans scored on a throwing error by Alex Alfonso.

Stuart Charleston started on the mound for Shorter, lasting six innings while yielding 10 hits and five earned runs while striking out three.

In other action Sunday:

BASKETBALL

CENTRE WOMEN 72, BERRY 50

Berry’s women’s basketball team trailed by as many as 24 points in the first half, and ended up losing to Southern Athletic Association opponent Centre, 72-50, on Sunday afternoon at The Cage Center.

Chanlir Segarra led Berry with 20 points, and Mullinax had 10 points and seven rebounds. Paige Baechle totaled game highs of 22 points and 14 rebounds for Centre. Maggie Hartlage tacked on 11 points for the Colonels.

Centre shot 50 percent on the afternoon, including 60 percent in the first half, while Berry knocked down 24.3 percent of its shots.

Berry dropped to 10-10 overall and 5-5 in SAA games. Centre upped its record to 10-10 and 8-2.

“I think we started off with good energy and worked hard,” said head coach Stephanie Dunn.

“Centre was definitely hot. It’s just hard to overcome that. I felt like we probably could’ve closed out a little better.”

After trailing by one point during the opening three minutes of the game, Berry fell behind by double digits after Centre went on a 16-6 run. Alexa Evans drained a three-pointer as the halftime buzzer sounded, but Berry still trailed, 46-25.

In the second half, Centre continued scoring and found itself ahead by 31 points with less than three minutes remaining.

“You have games like (this) where a team comes in and shoots 50 percent,” Dunn said. “It happens. We’ll just go back to work and get ready to play the next game.”

“Probably for the most part, I think we played hard,” said Tara Mullinax. “I feel like we just have to keep on playing hard and build off each other’s emotions.”

CENTRE MEN 71, BERRY 60

The Berry men’s basketball team scored the first four points of the game but trailed the rest of the afternoon and fell, 71-60, against Southern Athletic Association opponent Centre at the Cage Center. Mac Whalen paced Berry with 21 points, and Jonathan Abrams added 15.

Byron Ellis scored 21 points for Centre, while Blake Scinta added a game-high 22, including 16 in the second half.