Box Score LAKELAND – Florida Southern opened the Sunshine State Conference portion of its schedule with an emphatic 11-5 victory over the top-ranked Tampa Spartans at Henley Field Friday night.
After ending its season with a heartbreaking 3-0 loss in the NCAA Division II South Regional Final to Tampa (17-5, 2-2 SSC) a season ago, FSC (10-8, 1-0 SSC) came out with some added motivation. Behind junior starter Ben Richardson (Orlando, Fla.), who started the regional final on May 18, the Moccasins handed the Spartans their second consecutive loss, following a 7-6 loss to West Chester on Tuesday, March 10. This was the first time since April 16, 2013 that UT has lost two consecutive games.
Here is a photo gallery from Friday's National Championship Reunion Night celebration
In the biggest game of the season so far, the Mocs hurler came out looking sharp, and had one of his best outings of the year. The right-hander from Bishop Moore High School allowed just two hits through the first 4.2 innings, both of which were singles by Casey Scoggins, and allowed five runs (four earned) on nine hits through 7.2 innings of work. He also struck out four while walking two.
The Mocs defense came up with some big plays as well in aiding Richardson throughout his outing. With inning-ending double plays in the first and fourth innings, he was able to stay out of trouble for most of the game. In the fourth, senior catcher Joey Miller (Sarasota, Fla.) caught the Spartans being overly aggressive by throwing out Scoggins after Richardson punched out Giovanny Alfonzo.
Richardson's adversary and UT's ace, David Heintz, came into the game with a 3-0 record and a 0.95 ERA after giving up just three earned runs in 28.1 innings. After it was all said and done, he now sits at 3-1 with a 2.60 ERA having given up seven earned runs in 6.1 innings of work tonight.
With a combined six batters going to the plate in the first inning, this was set to be determined on the mound; however, junior right fielder Jhalan Jackson (Winter Haven, Fla.) had other ideas. Jackson led off the bottom of the second inning with a solo shot to left to give the Mocs an early 1-0 lead. They would continue their threat that inning with a two-out double down the left field line by junior second baseman Shawn Sanders (Citra, Fla.), but Heintz was able to retire the next batter to prevent any further damage.
After another one-two-three inning from both sides in the third, senior third baseman Chris Dennis (Rockledge, Fla.) sparked a fourth-inning rally with a triple down the right field line, and be driven in on a sacrifice fly by Jackson. Like the Presbyterian College transfer, senior designated hitter Dominic Brugnoni (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) recorded a two-out double after the Mocs plated a run. This time, FSC was able to capitalize on the opportunity as Sanders drove a single to center field to bring Brugnoni around to take a 3-run lead.
UT would respond in the top of the next frame with a two-out solo homer from Nick Flair, and find its way around again in the seventh off an RBI single to make the score 3-2.
It did not take FSC very long to retake its two-run lead as Miller hooked the first pitch after the seventh-inning stretch inside the pole in left for his first homerun of the 2015 campaign. Following Miller was senior shortstop Casey Eddinger (Crawfordville, Fla.), who sent the ball right back through the box for a single, and advanced to second on senior left fielder Kyle Richard's (Groton, Conn.) second of three sacrifice bunts in the game. In fact, all three of his sacrifices were used so that Eddinger could move into scoring position. That set the stage for junior center fielder Sam Machonis (Tampa, Fla.), who smashed an RBI triple to the gap in left center. After a walk by Dennis, Jackson would score Machonis with a single to left center, making it a 6-2 ballgame. That would be the last batter Heintz would face, who was replaced by Logan LaPace.
After falling behind to senior first baseman Blake Swann (Live Oak, Fla.), LaPace intentionally walked him with one out as Brugnoni dug into the box, and flew out to right field deep enough for Dennis to score on the sac fly. The bases would be loaded once more after a walk by Sanders, but they would remain that way as the Spartans were able to get out of the jam.
With just six outs remaining and facing a five-run deficit, UT strung together a couple of hits, and, aided by an error, were able to scratch across three runs and get Richardson pulled from the game. Senior right hander Casey Eskew (Sarasota, Fla.) would come in for relief, and was able to strike out Stephen Dezzi, the Spartans leader in homers, for the final out of the inning. He would give up just one hit in the final inning to earn his first save of the season.
The Mocs would respond with another four-run inning in the eighth that started with Eddinger getting hit by first pitch thrown by Zac Favre. After advancing to second on a sac bunt by Richards, and to third on a single to right by Machonis, Eddinger would be driven in thanks to a perfectly executed safety squeeze by Dennis. A slicing ground-rule double by Jackson brought in Machonis, and another double by Swann brought in both Dennis and Jackson. The 6'4 transfer from Hillsborough Community College went 3-4 on the night with four RBIs and two extra base hits, increasing his team-leading batting average to .465 on the year with a slugging percentage of .873. He also has a team-best six bombs and 30 RBIs.
The Moccasins will conclude the series with the top-ranked Spartans tomorrow, March 14, with a doubleheader scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Both games will be nine innings, a new format the SSC is going to this season from the previous nine inning and a seven inning doubleheader which started in 2001.
