LAKELAND, Fla. - The Florida Southern College baseball season opener ended in dramatic fashion as the Mocs faced off against the University of West Florida Saturday afternoon at Henley Field.
The Mocs (1-1, 0-0 SSC) went to 11 innings in game one of the doubleheader, with a walk-off homer by
Jeff Liquori in the bottom of the 11th for the Mocs to win 3-2. The Argos (1-1, 0-0 GSC) responded with another close battle in game two, where they fended off a late surge by the Mocs for a 2-1 UWF win in seven scheduled innings.
GAME ONE
A pitcher's duel to start the opening game as
Nathan Madej, recently named NCBWA Preseason Honorable Mention All-American, took on the Argos in five scoreless innings. Madej finished the day with two hits, no runs, and five strikeouts in his 2023 debut.
While keeping the Argos scoreless, Florida Southern scored first after
Drew Cavanaugh batted in a sacrifice fly for
Connor Berry to score. The game continued to remain a 1-0 Moccasin lead until the eighth inning as
Andrew Williamson and
Collin Camarigg came in to relieve Madej.
The Argonauts went to the eighth inning looking for a score, which they responded with a two-run single by Prizina and took a 2-1 advantage into the ninth. Undeterred, a double from
Mitch Donofrio gave
Jeff Liquori the opportunity to score, tying up the Mocs and Argonauts once again.
Both teams failed to score in the tenth, the score remaining 2-2 until the bottom of the eleventh. With two outs to go in the inning, Liquori solo homered, bringing the score to 3-2 and giving the Mocs the win in the first game of the series.
The extra inning battle was the first season opener to go to extra innings since Feb. 1, 2015, when the Mocs beat UWF 2-1 in 15 innings. Neuschwan for the Argos went eight innings allowing the one run, as Wilkerson was tabbed with the loss. For Florida Southern,
Justin Stewart, a junior transfer from Pasco Hernando State, earned the win for the Mocs in game one.
GAME 2
Florida Southern fell to the Argonauts in game two of the series at Henley Field. In the fourth,
Nick Wells scored the Mocs' only run in the game on a run batted in by
Mitch Donofrio. Despite having runners on second and third at the bottom of the seventh, the Mocs failed to score again before the game was over.
Not unlike the first game, the score of game two was 0-0 until several innings in. Until the fourth inning, both teams had sparse hits back and forth but failed to score.
Aric McAtee pitched for the Mocs for five innings, allowing five hits during his time on the mound.
In the top of the fourth, the Argonauts scored a run on a single to center field. The Mocs answered with a run by
Nick Wells, after he ran for
El'Rico Riley and advanced to second on a throwing error by UWF's catcher.
A scoreless fifth inning led to another exciting end to the scheduled seven inning matchup. In the top of the sixth, a pair of walks early put the Argos in scoring position. Another RBI double by Prizina sent Bailey home for the 2-1 UWF lead, which held true to the end.
Florida Southern staged a great path for a comeback, with a single by
Ahmad Fitts and
Connor Berry. Positioned on second and third, UWF's Dowdy stuck out the next two batters to end the game with a UWF 2-1 victory and split doubleheader.
The Mocs will face off against UWF for the game three series finale, tomorrow, Feb.5 at 1:00 p.m. at Henley Field.
