Mocs Lose Series Against #1 Spartans in Doubleheader Afternoon

TAMPA, Fla. – The Florida Southern College baseball team completed its series against No. 1 University of Tampa in a doubleheader loss on Saturday afternoon at the UT Baseball Field.
 
The Moccasins (9-16, 3-6 SSC) kept both games close in the opening innings but ultimately lost game one of the day by a 7-4 score. The Spartans (26-2, 8-1 SSC) capitalized a big eighth inning of the series finale to walk off by a run-rule in a 16-4 UT win and series sweep.
 
The Sunshine State Conference foes had a combined six home runs during the doubleheader, three for each game. Home runs for the Mocs came from Jack Duffy, Grady Maguire, and Nick Collins. EJ Cumbo for UT had two home runs in the series finale, including a grand slam to end the game. Tampa outhit Florida Southern in both games as an error-less FSC day could not amount to enough runs to win the series.
 
No. 1 Tampa 7, Florida Southern 4
The Mocs opened the first doubleheader game with two quick outs, but a Duffy solo home run put FSC on the board first. A single and two-run homer by Tampa in the bottom of the first relinquished the lead in a 2-1 UT advantage, that turned to a 4-1 score as Tampa had another two runs in the second inning.
 
Neither team scored in the third inning and FSC went on to tie the game in the top of the fourth with three runs off three hits. Duffy led off with a single, and Rohsean Riley hit a two-out double to send Duffy home to narrow the deficit. R. Riley stole third to make his walk home even shorter as Maguire hit a big home run in the next at-bat to tie the game at four.
 
Marcos Herrand had the start for FSC and did good work in five innings, including a scoreless fourth and fifth inning in a tie game, but UT took the lead in the sixth. Four hits and three runs in the sixth led to the 7-4 UT lead, in what was the final runs of the game. The following three innings for the Mocs garnered only one hit by Maguire and no runs in the 7-4 loss.
 
FSC left six stranded in the game while giving up no errors and only three walks. Casey O'Dell entered in the sixth and had a productive three innings with only three hits and no runs, but the offense was unable to match the Tampa runs for the first loss of the day. Gonzalez was credited with the win for Tampa and Thurmond the save.
 
No. 1 Tampa 16, Florida Southern 4
After a scoreless first inning, FSC scored first again, this time from an RBI double by El'Rico Riley to send Maguire home. With the 1-0 lead, FSC expected a bigger lead as the first inning had a tough end despite Jevin Relaford on third with one out. An infield groundout and pop-up left Relaford stranded in the first before E. Riley's RBI double in the second.
 
Logan Adams started for FSC and held Tampa scoreless in the first two innings with another opportunity in the top of the third to extend the lead by the Mocs. A walk for Relaford and advancement on a failed pickoff attempt nearly had Relaford at third, but he was caught stealing on the next few pitches for the final outs to follow. A hit by pitch and single for Tampa had two on base when Cumbo hit his first homer of the day in the third with another RBI single to make it a 4-1 Tampa lead.
 
A big throwing error by Tampa in the fourth narrowed the FSC deficit to just one run with two runs scored and a 4-3 ballgame. Two scoreless innings allowed Collins to hit a leadoff homer in the sixth to tie the game at four, the score until the bottom of the seventh.
 
Evan Mobley entered in the seventh in relief of Adams and had some trouble early with one hit and three walks leading to a two-run single by Palma for Tampa to take the lead. Mocs responded in the eighth with singles by E. Riley and Josh Hines but left two on with an out on a stolen base attempt.
 
Tampa erupted with 10 runs in the bottom of the eighth inning from three hits and seven walks in a disappointing end to the game. All runs were scored off walks with bases loaded, wild pitch, and a final grand slam by Cumbo to walk off in the eighth with a 10-run rule implemented by the SSC this season for game three of a conference series.
 
Florida Southern had six hits in the game, led by E. Riley with three and two hits from Collins, including his homer. Another tough day on the mound for the Mocs with 15 walks during the game from the four pitchers used. Relaford had two stolen bases in the day, reaching base three times from walks himself. The seven walks by Tampa added to a combined 22 walks between the pitching staffs.
 
The Mocs will return to Lakeland to host No. 7 Saint Leo University next weekend in a three-game series. Game one will take place on Thursday, March 28, with a 6 p.m. start and a Friday, March 29 doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Henley Field.
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