Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
LAKELAND, FL- Florida Southern was able to outlast fourth-ranked West Florida 2-1 in the first game of their season-opening doubleheader with a solo home run in the 15th inning by senior first baseman Trey Vavra, but fell victim to the long ball in game two with a 6-2 defeat to the Argonauts here Saturday at historic Henley Field.
The Moccasins knew they were going to have their hands full this weekend when they heard the Argonauts of West Florida would be coming to town. This proved to be true as they opened the scoring in the top of the first when Kaleb Barlow sent a pitch by senior Clay Chapman (Orlando, Fla.) ball over the fence in left-center to take an early 1-0 lead.
FSC would answer right back in the bottom half of the frame with a pair of singles by junior leftfielder Trevor Freeman (Shalimar, Fla.) and Vavra and a walk by junior centerfielder Keith Curcio (Sarasota, Fla.) in the middle of them. Freeman’s run would end up being the last run scored by either team for an astounding 13 innings.
Besides the minor blemish in the first inning, Chapman was impressive in his first outing of the season as he threw 5.2 innings and allowed just three hits, one run, and walked three Argos, while striking out five.
The Mocs were threatening in the bottom of the fifth when senior second baseman Conor Szczerba (Titusville, Fla.) extended his current hit-streak to eight consecutive games with a single to left. Freeman followed that up by getting hit by a pitch, and Curcio flied out to right advancing Szczerba to third with only one out. Sadly, neither Vavra nor junior third baseman Chris Dennis (Rockledge, Fla.) were able to score last season's Division II National Gold Glove winner from third base.
In the top of the sixth, UWF was able to generate a hit batsman and a walk, which would mean Chapman’s day was over. He was replaced by junior reliever Casey Eskew (Sarasota, Fla.), who shut the door by getting Alex Greene to ground out to third to end the inning.
The Mocs would make UWF sweat again in the bottom half of the sixth when redshirt sophomore designated hitter Dominic Brugnoni (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) advanced into scoring position thanks to a sacrifice bunt by junior catcher Joey Miller (Sarasota, Fla.) after he led off the inning with a walk. The threat would end with Brugnoni getting thrown out at the plate on a bang-bang play, while trying to score on a Szczerba single through the right side of the infield.
Quality pitching and defense would take over the next three innings as the only players to reach base were two Argos in the top of the seventh on a walk and a hit by pitch.
UWF would scatter two hits throughout their half of the 10th, but they were not able to get into any sort of rhythm off of senior reliever Nate Carter (Boca Raton, Fla.). Carter tied his career high in innings pitched as he three in Saturday's season opener. He scattered three hits in his mound appearance.
The Mocs would get runners in scoring position again in the 12th in the form of Freeman reaching by a throwing error by UWF's pitcher, which allowed him to advance to second. A strategic groundout to second by Curcio advanced Freeman to third with two outs. Vavra, though, was unsuccessful in his first attempt to be the hero as he grounded out to the shortstop to end the threat.
The top of the 13th was a one-two-three inning for the Mocs thanks in large part to an off-balance, bare-handed do-or-die play on a slow roller down the third-base line by Dennis.
Dennis would lead off the bottom half of the inning with a single up the middle, and was moved over to second by a Brugnoni sacrifice bunt. He would advance to third on the next play when Miller grounded out to short. After junior shortstop Casey Eddinger (Crawfordville, Fla.) got hit by a pitch, the inning ended when senior rightfielder J.J. Downum (Land O'Lakes, Fla.) grounded out to first.
FSC would come back in the next inning with yet another threatening situation for the fourth-ranked team in the nation. After getting his second hit of the game and advancing to second on a throwing error by the shortstop, it looked like this would be the final inning. Freeman went brain-dead, however, on the next play when Curcio flied out to center when he not only forgot to tag up, but was tagged out when the centerfielder got the ball in quicker than expected to the second baseman.
The Mocs were caught off guard to start the top of the 15th inning as Aaron Haag placed a bunt down the third baseline for a single. The defense would wake up the next play when the Argos grounded into a 3-6-3 double-play to kill any momentum they might have gained.
Vavra, who is a native of Menomonie, Wis., led off the bottom of the 15th for FSC and would not miss this opportunity to end the game when he sent a Josh McLainey fastball deep over the left-center field fence to start the season on the right foot for the Mocs. Vavra is no stranger to the long-ball as he hit eight last year as a member of the Eastern Illinois Panthers.
Vavra, Szczerba, and Freeman all had multi-hit games to start the doubleheader, while Brugnoni and Curcio both added hits to their current hit-streaks at eight and four respectively. Senior Nick Krolczyk (Coral Springs, Fla.) picked up the first win of the season by throwing a solid final four innings and only allowing two hits and a walk, while stiking out three.
FSC would ride that wave of momentum into the second game of Saturday's doubleheader by tallying three hits in the first inning and scoring the first run. Curcio extended his hit streak to a personal best eight games with a two-out single. Vavra followed that up with a single of his own down the left field line. Dennis would bring Curcio in with a two-bagger down into the leftfield corner making the score 1-0. The rally would end there, though, as Brugnoni was out by half-a-step on a grounder to short.
The Moccasin offense would strike again in the third when they again collected three hits in an inning. Starting with one-out singles by Freeman and Curcio, the Mocs got out of a would-have-been double-play ball hit by Vavra, if not for an effective takeout slide by Curcio at second. Dennis came up next and smashed a grounder off the first base bag for a single, allowing Freeman to score to take a 2-0 lead.
UWF (1-1) showed that they would not go down without a fight in the fourth when Austin Southall pulled the ball over the rightfield fence after two of his teammates were already on base. The Argos would add three more runs in the top of the seventh to quell any hopes the Mocs might have had of trying to come back into this game. Two of those runs would come on a two-out throwing error by Dennis as he rushed his throw in an attempt to get Barlow out first base on a ground ball.
Two fly outs to start the bottom of the seventh brought Szczerba to the plate one last time to try to save his hit streak. He made solid contact, but fired the ball too close to third as Jeremy Bajdaun made a diving catch to end the game and seal the Argos victory.
The two teams will conclude the three-game weekend series on Sunday afternoon with a single nine inning game. First pitch for Sunday's series finale is slated for 1 p.m. at Henley Field.
