PENSACOLA, Fla. – After hours of weather delays, the Florida Southern College baseball opened the NCAA South Region Tournament with a 2-0 loss against No. 12 University of West Florida Thursday night at Jim Spooner Field.
The Mocs (32-19) struggled to tally a hit with only two for the designated away team. The Argos (38-15) shut out the Mocs for the first time this season to move on to the winner's bracket and take on Barry University tomorrow afternoon. FSC entered as a seven seed and UWF the second seed.
A strong pitching start for both teams as FSC was unable to get on base in the top of the first and the same for the bottom of the first as
Aric McAtee got the start and struck out one with a fly out and groundout to end the much-anticipated start of the game.
UWF scored the first run of the day after a double put a man in scoring position and eventually made his way home. Argos only scored one, thanks to a deep throw from left field to home tagged what would've been another UWF run.
A second run by the Argos from a wild pitch brough the score 2-0 in the third as FSC was unable to respond. In the bottom of the fourth, the Argos had the bases loaded but a flyout to center field ended the inning with no runs scored and keep the Mocs within two.
McAtee continued to pitch well with nine strikeouts in seven innings and keeping the Mocs in the game down by two. With three scoreless innings for the Argos, Mocs had their first hit of the game in the top of the seventh as
Bryce Safferwich hit to deep left center with two outs. A double by
Connor Berry had two runners in scoring position, but both were left on with a two-out strikeout.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh,
Kerry Wright entered as a reliever and struck out one and stopped a liner for the second out and leaving two on and 2-0 Argos lead through seven. Although
Rohsean Riley got on base hit by pitch, he was left one as the Mocs remained down by two.
Heading into the final inning, the Mocs were down by two and unable to get on base as the Argos sealed the game with a 2-0 victory over FSC. McAtee finished with nine strikeouts and on offense, the Mocs were out-hit 7-to-2 by UWF.
The Mocs will take on Montevallo tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. CT/3:00 PM ET at Jim Spooner Field for day two of the regional tournament.
