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LAKELAND - Florida Southern kept its postseason hopes alive here Saturday afternoon as the 20th-ranked Moccasins split a Sunshine State Conference doubleheader against Saint Leo on Senior Day at historic Henley Field.
Saturday's doubleheader marked the final two home games of the season for the Moccasins as they close out the 2014 regular season next week with a three-game series at Eckerd. With the split, the Mocs complete its home schedule with an 18-7 record at home, including a 7-5 mark in SSC home games.
Prior to the beginning of Saturday's doubleheader, the Mocs honored its 11 seniors in a pregame ceremony. This year's seniors are pitcher Steven Burnham (Valrico, Fla.), pitcher Nate Carter (Boca Raton, Fla.), pitcher Clay Chapman (Orlando, Fla.), shortstop Jimmy Correnti (Fort Myers, Fla.), leftfielder J.J. Downum (Land O'Lakes, Fla.), pitcher Brian Johnson (Oldsmar, Fla.), pitcher Nick Krolczyk (Coral Springs, Fla.), catcher Chris Kyser (Arlington, Va.), pitcher Reid Noah (Lakeland, Fla.), second baseman Conor Szczerba (Titusville, Fla.) and first baseman Trey Vavra (Menomonie, Wis.).
In Saturday's opener, the Mocs rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game at in the sixth inning, before SLU used a home run in the eighth inning by Jordan Taylor to post a 5-4 win (Box Score) in the first game, before the Mocs used a five-hit complete game shutout from sophomore pitcher Ben Richardson (Orlando, Fla.) to earn a 5-0 win (Box Score) in the nightcap to salvage the split and win its fourth SSC series of the season.
With the split, the Mocs improve to 31-15 overall and take over sole possession of third place in the SSC standings with a 13-8 mark, while SLU falls to 31-15 overall and 12-9 in the SSC. With its 31 wins this season, the Mocs have now won 30 or more games for the 39th time in the program's history and the first since since the 2011 squad finished with a 32-15 record.
In the nightcap, the Mocs broke open a scoreless game in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to singles from redshirt sophomore rightfielder Dominic Brugnoni (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) and junior catcher Joey Miller (Sarasota, Fla.), a sacrifice bunt by freshman designated hitter Scottie Withrow (Seminole, Fla.) and a sacrifice fly to right by junior leftfielder Trevor Freeman (Shalimar, Fla.) off of Lions starter Brandon Terry, who had pitched the final 3.2 innings to earn the win in Saturday's opener.
With a 1-0 lead, the Mocs turned the game over to Richardson's pitching as the 6-foot-5 right-hander didn't disappoint as he retired the Lions in order from the fourth to the sixth inning en route to throwing a five-hit complete game shutout to improve to a 7-4 on the season and lower his season ERA from 3.75 to 2.95. In the game, Richardson, who has now thrown three complete game shutouts on the season, walked two and struck out three in his 92 pitch effort.
Richardson's teammates gave him some insurance runs in the sixth inning as the Mocs sent nine batters to the plate and recorded four hits and scored four runs to push its lead to 5-0. Brugnoni got the scoring started in the inning with a 2-run homer over the left field wall that gave the Mocs a 3-0 lead. The homer was Brugnoni's fifth of the season, which puts him tied with junior centerfielder Keith Curcio (Sarasota, Fla.) for second on the team. The next run came home on a single up the middle by Freeman that scored Withrow, who had reached on a single through the left side and then moved up two bases thanks to wild pitches from SLU reliever Brent Krauss. The Mocs would then load the bases thanks to a single by junior shortstop Casey Eddinger (Crawfordville, Fla.) and an intentional walk to Szczerba by Tyrone Miller. Curcio would then drive in the next run as he drew a bases loaded walk from Miller that allowed Freeman to score the game's fifth run. The Lions, though, would prevent any further damage as Shaun Adams relieved Miller and struck out Vavra and forced junior third baseman Chris Dennis (Rockledge, Fla.) to line out to end the inning.
In the seventh, the Lions put two runners on base thanks to a single and a walk, but Richardson would preserve the shutout as he ended the game by forcing Dale Irving to ground out to Dennis at third to seal the win.
The Mocs finished the nightcap with nine hits as Brugnoni and Freeman each had two hits and two RBIs in the win, while five other Mocs recorded a hit in the game.
Terry (5-4) took the loss for the Lions as he pitched four innings and allowed five hits and one run, while walking one and fanning two.
SLU collected five hits in the nightcap, including two hits from Taylor Perez.
Meanwhile in Saturday's first game, the Lions jumped out in front 1-0 in the top of the first inning thanks to a hit and a Moccasin error by Dennis at third base.
The lead grew to 2-0 in the second inning as the Lions recorded three straight two-out singles off of Johnson. The last single was an RBI single to center by Nick Perez.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Mocs appeared poised to get on the scoreboard as they used singles by Brugnoni and Miller and walk to Withrow to load the bases with one out, but SLU starter Liam O'Sullivan got out of the jam by striking out both Correnti and Freeman to end the inning and keep the score 2-0 in SLU's favor.
The Mocs put runners on second and third in the third inning thanks to back-to-back singles from Szczerba and Curcio and a passed ball with two outs, but they couldn't get a run home as O'Sullivan forced Dennis and Brugnoni to both fly out to end the threat.
SLU's lead grew to 4-0 in the fourth inning thanks to a 2-run single up the middle off of Johnson by Perez. Perez finished the game 2-for-5 at the plate with a run scored and 3 RBIs.
The Mocs finally broke up O'Sullivan's bid for a shutout in the fifth inning on a 2-run homer by Curcio over the wall in right field to push FSC within two runs at 4-2. The homer was the fifth of the season for Curcio and the second of the week as he hit a homer in the Mocs 16-3 win on Wednesday at Warner.
FSC would tie the game in the bottom of the sixth inning thanks to an RBI single by Freeman and an RBI triple down the right field line by Curcio. The triple was Curcio's team-high tying fourth of the season.
The score would remain tied until the top of the eighth inning as Taylor hit a home run over the wall in right off of Burnham to give the Lions a 5-4. Burnham replaced Johnson in the eighth after the 6-foot right-hander had thrown seven innings and allowed nine hits and four runs (three earned), while walking two and striking out two.
Burnham (1-1) would retire the next three Lions in order after Taylor's lead-off homer and in the ninth, junior Casey Eskew (Sarasota, Fla.) would retire the Lions in order.
In the bottom of the ninth and trailing by a run, Szczerba led off the inning with a single off of Adams, who had relieved O'Sullivan in the sixth inning after Freeman's run scoring single. Szczerba would move to second on a bunt by Curcio and advanced to third on a fly out by Vavra, but would remain stranded at third after Adams forced Dennis to fly out to left to end the game.
The Mocs recorded 10 hits in the opener, including a 3-for-4 day at the plate by Curcio, who came a double away from hitting for the cycle. It was the second time this week that Curcio missed the cycle by one hit as he had a double, triple and a home run on Wednesday at Warner, but wasn't able to record a single in the game. Curcio also tied a season-high with 3 RBIs in Saturday's first game.
In addition to Curcio's three hits, Szczerba and Miller each had two hits in the loss.
The Lions also collected 10 hits in the game as along with Perez, Taylor also had two hits in the win.
Terry (5-3), who is the reigning SSC Pitcher of the Week, picked up the win in relief of O'Sullivan as he pitched the final 3.2 innings and allowed just two hits and struck out one. ÂÂ
The Mocs defense also committed three errors in the first game, while SLU had one error.
FSC will return to action this coming week as they travel to St. Petersburg to open a three-game SSC series at Eckerd. The teams will open the series with a 6 p.m. game on Thursday, May 1, before concluding the regular season with a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. on Friday, May 2.
