Box Score
SAINT LEO - Florida Southern returned to action following a nine-day layoff here Tuesday evening by falling 7-2 to Saint Leo in non-conference action at Southard Stadium on the SLU campus.
Both teams combined for 13 hits and each team left six runners on the base in the game that lasted a little less than two-and-half hours.
With the loss, the Moccasins fall to 5-11 overall and Saint Leo improves to 11-6 and 2-0 against the Mocs this season as they picked up an 8-4 win in Lakeland on Feb. 5.
The Mocs got on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning on an RBI single up the middle by senior first baseman Kyle Jackson (Avon Park, Fla.) that plated sophomore leftfielder Keith Curcio (Sarasota, Fla.), who had reached on a two-out double to right field. Jackson was one of two Mocs to record two hits in the game.
SLU would take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a one-out, 2-run double by Dillon Vitale down the right field line off of junior starter Steven Burnham (Valrico, Fla.). The Lions would put the first two runners on base thanks to a walk and a hit batsman.
FSC appeared to have tied the game in the fourth inning as Jackson reached on a one-out single and advanced to second on a passed and appeared to have score pon a single to right field by freshman rightfielder Dominic Brugnoni (St. Clair Shores, Mich.), but the throw in from right by SLU's Bobby Twitty hit Brugnoni as he was rounding first base and the umpire in the field called interference on the play and ruled Jackson out at the plate to end the inning with the score 2-1 in SLU's favor.
The Lions extended its lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning on a hot shot single to shortstop that skipped into the outfield and allowed Taylor Perez to score from third base. Perez has reached on a two-out walk issued by Burnham, who went four innings and allowed three hits and three run, while walking three and striking out three to fall to 1-1 on the season as he was tagged with the loss.
In the sixth, the Mocs put runners on first and second with one out thanks to a hit batsman and a walk that chased SLU freshman starter Chris Williams from the game after throwing 76 pitches. Williams, who pitched 5.1 innings in the game and allowed four hits and recorded two strikeouts to pick up his first career victory, was making his first career start and entered the game having throw just two innings on the season.
Williams was replaced by lefthander Brandon Terry, who forced Jackson to fly out to right and then got redshirt junior designated hitter T.J. Kuban (Valencia, Pa.) to fly to deep right field to end the inning with SLU still holding a 3-1 lead.
Terry would pitch the final 3.2 innings to record his first save of the season. In 3.2 innings of work, Terry allowed two hits and one run, while fanning four and walking none.
In the seventh, Brugnoni led off with a double down the right field line and moved to third on a ground out by freshman pinch hitter Christian Magno (Longwood, Fla.) and scored on a two-out infield single by redshirt junior centerfielder J.J. Downum (Land O'Lakes, Fla.) to drop SLU's lead to 3-2. Downum's single extended his hitting streak to three consecutive games.
The Lions would get that run back in the bottom of the seventh inning as Twitty drove home Ryan Brnovich with a run from second base with his single up the middle off of senior reliever Mike Czenszak (Downingtown, Pa). Brnovich had reached base on a one-out single past Jackson at first base.
After putting runners on the corners with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, Kory Wan deposited a 2-2 offering from junior reliever Nate Carter (Boca Raton, Fla.) over the left field wall for a three-run homer to give the Lions a 7-3 lead. Carter was the fifth pitcher of the night for the Mocs.
On the night, the Mocs bullpen threw four innings and allowed four hits and four runs, while striking out four and walking one. The most effective reliever was junior Clay Chapman (Orlando, Fla.), who pitched two innings and allowed one hit and struck out two to raise his team-leading strikeout total to 18 on the season.
In addition to Jackson, Brugnoni also recorded two hits for the Mocs.
SLU got two hits apiece from Vitale and Perez, while Perez and Chris Newcomb each scored two runs.
The Mocs will return to the diamond this weekend as they open Sunshine State Conference play with a three-game series against Eckerd at Henley Field. The teams will open the series on Friday, March 8 with a single game at 6 p.m., before concluding the series with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 9 beginning at 1 p.m. ÂÂ
