Box Score
LAKELAND - Back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning helped power third-ranked Tampa to a 6-1 win over Florida Southern in the opener of their three-game Sunshine State Conference series here Friday night at Henley Field.
With the win, UT improves to 26-6 overall and 10-3 in the SSC, while the Mocs fall to 14-17 overall and 6-4 in the SSC. In addition, it marked the second straight home loss for FSC after winning 14 straight games at Henley Field.
The back-to-back homers, including a 3-run blast by Connor Obrochta off of junior starter Clay Chapman (Orlando, Fla.) proved to be more than enough offense for the Spartans and their starting pitcher Matt Abramson. UT's other homer in the inning was a solo shot by Michael Danner that cleared the fence in right center.
Abramson (6-0 on the season) allowed just three hits in six innings and ran his scoreless innings pitched streak to 31.2 on the season as the senior has yet to yield a run on the season. He also finished with two walks and three strikeouts in the game.
Prior to four-run fifth inning by the Spartans, the Mocs had a scoring opportunity in the bottom of the fourth as sophomore centerfielder Keith Curcio (Sarasota, Fla.) and redshirt freshman rightfielder Dominic Brugnoni (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) reached on back-to-back one-out singles to put runners on first and third base. Abramson, though, would battle out of the jam as he struck out senior first baseman Kyle Jackson (Avon Park, Fla.) and four pitches and then forced senior leftfielder Austin Jackson (Deltona, Fla.) to fly out to center to end the inning.
In the seventh inning, the Mocs had another scoring chance as Austin Jackson led off with an infield single and Kyle Jackson drew a walk from UT reliever Preston Packrall. After the walk to Jackson, Mike Adams relieved Packrall and got out of the jam by forcing back-to-back fielders choices and ending the inning by inducing junior third baseman Jimmy Correnti (Fort Myers, Fla.) to ground out to end the threat.
The Spartans would add to its run total in the eighth inning on a fielding error by Curcio in center on a fly ball hit by Zach Gawrych off of Chapman. Curcio's error allowed two runs to score to make the score 6-0.
Chapman (2-4) took the loss for the Mocs as he threw 7.2 innings and allowed eight hits and six runs (four earned), while walking two and striking out five.
The Mocs would prevent a shutout by UT's pitchers in the ninth inning as Kyle Jackson led off with a single through the right side, advanced to third on a double by senior catcher Brad Carlton (Arcadia, Fla.) and scored on a groundout by junior second baseman Conor Szczerba (Titusville, Fla.) off of UT reliever Aaron Gerbasi. Gerbasi was the fourth Spartan pitcher of the game.
Seven Mocs recorded a hit in the game, including Curcio extending his hitting streak to six consecutive games with his single in the fourth inning.
UT, who recorded nine hits in the game, was led by a 3-for-4 effort at the plate by its No. 8 hitter, Adam Pendelton. The top three hitters in the UT batting lineup were a combined 3-for-14 on the night. Those three players entered the game hitting a combined .374, but hit just .214 against the Mocs three pitchers that saw action on the night.
FSC struggled with runners on base again on Friday night as they left 10 runners stranded. It marked the fourth straight game that the Mocs had left seven or more runners on base.
The two teams will conclude its three-game weekend series with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.
