Box Score
LAKE WALES - Florida Southern's struggles on the road continued here Tuesday afternoon as the Moccasins fell 8-5 in a non-conference game against Warner University at Royals Field on the WU campus.
The loss, which was the Mocs 14th straight on the road this season, dropped its overall season record to 14-16. FSC is now 0-14 away from home and is 14-2 at home this season.
In Tuesday's loss, the Mocs recorded 10 hits, but left nine runners on base and committed two errors that led to three unearned runs by the Royals. WU (18-25 on the season) finished with 14 hits off of seven Moccasin pitchers and they also committed two errors and left 10 runners on base.
The Royals used some wildness from Moccasin freshman starting pitcher Ben Richardson (Orlando, Fla.) and two infield singles to score two runs and take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. In the inning, Richardson, who was making his second career start, recorded four wild pitches.
The Mocs got on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning on a RBI single to left by junior third baseman Jimmy Correnti (Fort Myers, Fla.). Correnti's single plated freshman rightfielder Christian Magno (Longwood, Fla.), who drew a two-out walk from Royals starting pitcher Ryan Hagy.
Warner added to its lead in the bottom of the second inning on a two-out RBI single by Johnny Groubert off of Richardson to push in front 3-1.
For the game, Richardson pitched two innings and allowed five hits and three runs (three earned), while walking one and fanning two.
FSC pulled within 3-2 in the top of the fourth inning as redshirt freshman designated hitter Dominic Brugnoni (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) led off with a single to right, advanced to second on a balk by Warner relief pitcher Jimmy Diven, moved to third on a groundout by senior Austin Jackson (Deltona, Fla.), who started at first base and scored on a groundout by Magno.
The Mocs took the lead in the fifth inning as they took advantage of two Royal fielding errors to score two runs and take a 4-3 lead. In the inning, redshirt junior centerfielder J.J. Downum (Land O'Lakes, Fla.) walked with one out. Junior second baseman Conor Szczerba (Titusville, Fla.) and senior shortstop Kyle Gibbs (Sarasota, Fla.) each reached on errors to load the bases. The first run was driven in on a single to left center by sophomore leftfielder Keith Curcio (Sarasota, Fla.) off of WU reliever Jeff Jacobsen and the second run came home on a sacrifice fly by Brugnoni.
WU would use three hits and a Moccasin error in the bottom of the sixth inning to score four runs off of senior reliever Matt Fuglesang (Land O'Lakes, Fla.) and take a 7-4 lead. The big hit in the inning was a single by Dylan Gross that hit the first base bag and allowed two runs to score.
The Royals lead grew to 8-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning on an RBI single up the middle by Chris Mejia off of sophomore reliever Austin Barnett (Lakeland, Fla.) that allowed Sergio Perez to score an unearned run after he reached on a 2-out single through the left side and advanced to second on a throwing error by senior catcher Brad Carlton (Arcadia, Fla.).
FSC had a scoring chance in the eighth inning as they recorded three hits and had a hit batsman. In the inning, Jackson and Magno and Carlton each recorded consecutive singles, but Magno was out at second on Carlton's single as he held up to make sure the ball wasn't caught. After Correnti was hit by a pitch to load the bases, WU reliever Dakota Mitchell got out of the jam by getting Downum to ground out to end the inning.
The Mocs completed the game's scoring in the ninth inning on an RBI single to right by Brugnoni that plated Szczerba, who had led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch by James Krupa and then stole second for his 12th stolen base of the season. Krupa, though, would close out the game by forcing senior Kyle Jackson (Avon Park, Fla.) to ground out to second as a pinch hitter.
Szczerba, Brugnoni and Carlton each had two hits in the game, while Szczerba scored two runs to increase his team-leading total to 27 on the season. Curcio extended his hitting streak to five straight games with his single in the fifth inning.
Fuglesang (0-1), who was the fourth of seven Moc pitchers, took the loss as he faced five batters and recorded only one out. In his one-third of an inning, he allowed two hits and four runs (two earned) and walked two.
Mitchell (3-0), who was the fourth of five Royals to pitch in the game, earned the win as he threw two innings and allowed just hits.ÂÂ
WU's offense was paced by a 4-for-5 day at the plate by Mejia. In addition to Mejia, Groubert, Brandon Kirby, Brad Benbow and Perez each had two hits in the win. In fact, the top three hitters in WU's lineup (Mejia, Groubert and Justin Burgess) went a combined 7-for-13 at the plate with five runs scored and 3 RBIs.
FSC will return to the diamond this weekend as they host No. 3 ranked Tampa (26-5 overall, 9-3 SSC) in a three-game Sunshine State Conference series at Henley Field. The two teams will open the series on Friday, April 5 with a single game at 6 p.m., before playing a doubleheader on Saturday, April 6 beginning at 1 p.m.
