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Box Score 2
LAKELAND â€" With Tampa leading the nation with a staff ERA of 0.75, pitchers Kayla Cox and Deanna Henriott have deserved every bit of attention they’ve received this season. Both of them were at their best on Friday, but they left room for first baseman Meagan Burke in the spotlight too. Burke had five hits and five RBI in the doubleheader, and though Florida Southern prevented Henriott from pitching another shutout, Tampa came away with 6-0 and 4-1 wins.
One night after Burke drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning with an RBI triple, the freshman from Jacksonville went 3-for-3 with a 3-run homer and walked once in the Spartans’ 6-0 game one win on Friday. She followed that up by going 2-for-3 with two RBI in the nightcap, driving in one of those runs in the first inning and another in the fifth.
Cox, who is now 13-1, pitched a 3-hit shutout in game one, striking out 13 and walking one as she lowered her NCAA-best earned run average to 0.28. Henriott pitched game two on Friday, and gave up four hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk. She lost a shutout bid in the sixth inning when Karlyn Scott reached on an infield single and scored on a base hit by Randi Grimes.
Tampa (31-5, 16-2, ranked #8) scored its first run in game one after Burke led off the second inning with her first hit of the day and came home on a triple by Katlyn Raatz. The Spartans then added four more in the third inning, scoring once on a sacrifice fly by Becky Vyzas before Burke hit a 3-run homer to left center to make the score 5-0.
Susan Jallo hit a solo home run to start the fourth inning for Tampa, but Florida Southern relief pitcher Lauren Wolfe held them scoreless the rest of the game.
Wolfe entered the game for the Moccasins (28-12, 7-8) with one out in the top of the third after Burke had gone deep off Sam Gale and Raatz had been hit by a pitch. In her 4.2 innings of work, the freshman allowed only one run on three hits, struck out six and walked six. Gale suffered the loss, falling to 1-2, though only two of the five runs she allowed were earned. She struck out four and walked one while giving up four hits.
Gale also had one of Florida Southern’s three hits off Cox, and walked in another plate appearance. Scott and Brittany Martin had the other two Moccasin hits, with Martin’s coming on a ball that dropped in amongst a group of Spartans on the infield. Running hard, Martin made it safely into second before the Spartans could throw her out, resulting in an infield double.
In game two, the Spartans struck for two runs in the top of the first inning, and Burke was part of it. Jallo started the game with a double, stole third and came home on an infield hit by Stacy Piagno. Burke later singled in Piagno for a 2-0 Tampa lead.
Jallo led off the third inning with her second solo home run of the doubleheader, and third home run of the season before Burke made the Mocs pay for an error with another RBI single in the fifth.
The Moccasins broke through against Henriott in the bottom of the sixth when Scott legged out an infield single, moved to second when Steph Graziani was nipped on a close play at first, and came home on a base hit by Grimes. They had two more runners in the seventh on a single by Dayna Hunn and walk by Christie Bailey, but Henriott left them on base to end the game. She upped her record to 18-4.
Tampa had eight hits off Christine Clark, but only two earned runs. Clark struck out seven with no walks, falling to 20-6.
Florida Southern will be at home again on Tuesday when it hosts Coastal Georgia in a 2:00 p.m. doubleheader.
