PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Florida Southern College baseball team's 2023 season came to an end with a 10-5 loss against the University of Montevallo Friday afternoon at Jim Spooner Field. Florida Southern is eliminated from the NCAA South Region Tournament with its second loss. Montevallo advanced and will play the loser of this afternoon's Barry and West Florida game.
The Mocs (32-20) took the lead first after three scoreless innings but were unable to hold on in the elimination postseason game. The Falcons (39-15) rallied for seven runs in the fifth, proving too much as they took down the Mocs 10-5.
A leadoff double in the second inning led to the first real scoring opportunity for the Falcons but three straight groundouts left a man stranded.
The bottom of the second had the first hit for the Mocs as
Rohsean Riley hit a single to left field.
Mitch Donofrio matched a single in the next at-bat, but both were left on as the game remained scoreless.
Florida Southern had a man at third with two outs as
D'Ante Starks got in base with a walk, stolen base, and advanced to third on a groundout. A pitching change for the Falcons proved beneficial as another groundout retired the side and a man left on.
Scoreless through three innings, Mocs scored three in the bottom fourth with an RBI single by
Drew Cavanaugh to send
Ryan Magic home and a 2 RBI single by
Jevin Relaford for Cavanaugh and Donofrio to score. With only one out left, Starks was hit by a pitch and so was
Connor Berry to load the bases up. Back-to-back strikeouts ended the inning and three left on but not before FSC took a 3-0 lead through four.
Montevallo responded with a big outing in the top of the fifth. UM had an RBI single to score one run before the Falcons had their own bases-loaded situation. They took advantage with a 2 RBI single to tie the game in the next at-bat and took the lead with another round of bases loaded and four runs scored for a 7-3 Montevallo lead.
Despite a leadoff single by Magdic, no runs were scored in the bottom of the fifth, but the Falcons did add to their lead with a run in the sixth for an 8-3 lead.
Jeff Liquori hit a big RBI double to send Relaford home in the sixth but two were left on with an 8-4 deficit. Montevallo added to their lead in the seventh with a solo run and a 9-4 score.
Florida Southern continued to struggle in getting on base with no runs scored and down 9-4 heading into the final inning.
An insurance run by the Falcons in the ninth led to a 10-4 score and a solo homer by
El'Rico Riley in the bottom half ended the game with a 10-5 loss to Montevallo.
