Max Russell pitched a complete game and his teammates provided plenty of offense to keep the Moccasins alive in the NCAA South Regional at Tampa with a 12-4 win over Florida Tech Saturday at Tampa.
Russell struck out eight and walked none while improving his record to 11-2. He allowed just one run through eight innings before Florida Tech scored three unearned runs in the ninth.
After Zach Maggard's infield out-RBI scored Tyler Benzel with the first run in the second inning, Benzel delivered a three-run homer in the third to cap a four-run inning. It was Benzel's fourth homer of the season. Kelvin Clark had singled in the first run of the inning.
Braxton Chisholm singled in a run in the eighth inning, then finished off a six-run ninth inning with a grand slam home run, his third homer of the season. Trae Gore had three of the Moccasins' 10 hits in the game.
The Moccasins (41-15) advance to another match-up with Rollins at noon on Sunday. The Tars eliminated Valdosta State 8-4 in Saturday's first game. If the Moccasins win their game with Rollins Sunday, they'll play a second game Sunday at 3:30 p.m. against Southern Arkansas. Tampa blasted Southern Arkansas 20-5 Saturday night to advance to Monday's championship game. Whichever team comes out of Sunday's competition will have to beat Tampa twice to win the regional and advance to the Division II Championship May 22-29 at Cary, N.C.
Fans have several options to follow the Mocs at the tournament: watch and listen live to the game, follow the live stats, or follow The Ledger's Tom Zebold's in-game blog.
