Box Score
The Moccasins' ninth-inning rally came up short and they dropped the opener of their three-game Sunshine State Conference series at Barry, 7-5, Friday night at Miami Shores.
Trailing 7-1 going to the ninth, the Moccasins got back-to-back walks to Kyle Gibbs and J.J. Downum and a single by Cory Jensen to load the bases with no outs. Gibbs scored on a wild pitch and Downum scored on an RBI-single by T.J. Kuban. Jensen scored on another wild pitch. After Tyler Petsch struck out Mike Snyder, Barry closer T.J. Mullis came on to strike out Austin Chubb, but the Moccasins weren't finished. Keith Curcio singled, sending Kuban to third and Kyle Jackson singled home Kuban before Mullins got Colin Kish to ground out to second to end the rally.
In the seventh the Moccasins got their first run, but missed a chance to get more, as they had the bases loaded with no outs, but scored just the one run on Jensen’s RBI-single.
The win improved first-place Barry's SSC record to 6-1, 13-10 overall, while the Moccasins fell to 14-11, 5-5 in the SSC.
Barry struck first in the game when James Young belted a grand slam homer over the left field fence off Mocs’ starter Matt Fuglesang (4-2) in the second inning. The Buccaneers added three unearned runs in the fifth that proved to be the difference in the game. Only two Barry players had hits in the game. Young had three and Adrian English had two, as the Moccasins out-hit Barry 11-5.
Jensen had three hits for the Moccasins, while Kuban and Gibbs each had two.
Anthony Dovale pitched three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, in relief of Fuglesang.
The Moccasins and Buccaneers play a doubleheader Saturday at noon.
