LAKELAND, Fla. – The No. 5 Florida Southern College baseball team dominated its midweek game against Nova Southeastern University by an 18-9 score Tuesday night at Henley Field.
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The Moccasins (25-7, 9-3 SSC) led off with five runs in the first and continued four total multi-run innings. The Sharks (14-13, 7-5 SSC) were unable to control the extra-base hits by FSC, with eight doubles, nearly breaking the program's record of nine doubles in a single game. The Mocs just moved up to No. 5 in the latest American Baseball Writers Association (ABCA).
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Florida Southern had a monster day, with nearly every Moccasin in the original lineup registering a hit, for a team total of 18 on the day. Six Mocs had multi-hit days, led by
Ahmad Fitts, BJ Rivera, and
Cleary Simpson, with three hits. Two-hit players included
Rohsean Riley, Grant Thoroman, and
Mikey Scott. Other FSC hits were from
Jack Duffy, Canyon Marcewicz, and Jevin Relaford. Fitts led the team with six RBI, with three RBI from Rivera and Thoroman. The team added four stolen bases and six drawn walks.
Brandon Jung got the start for the Mocs, going four innings, relieved by
Evan Mobley, Colby Rice, Austen Kessler, Ty Bradle, Ethan Breslin, and
David Butz.
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Nova Southeastern had a good number of hits on the day, though unable to keep up with the runs scored by Florida Southern. The Sharks had multi-hit days from Justin Wachs, Xavier Moronta, Gabe Esquivel, Zeth Rodriguez, and Boris Pena. Christopher Perez had the start, giving up the five runs for the loss.
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Florida Southern had a hot start, with five runs scored in the first inning. Riley had a two-RBI single, followed by a two-RBI double by Fitts. The final run of the inning was an RBI single by Rivera, 5-0. The Sharks had an RBI single by Rodriguez in the top of the second, but that was the only run scored by NSU that inning. The Mocs later extended their lead to five runs with a sac fly by Rivera in the third inning, 6-1. The next half inning, however, the Sharks tallied three runs on a flurry of hits to get within two of the Mocs, 6-4.
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In the home part of the fourth inning, the Mocs had another five-run inning, led by an RBI single by Riley, followed by two-run homers from Thoroman and Fitts for an 11-4 lead. The Sharks answered with a solo run in the fifth, though FSC had another big inning, scoring four in the fifth for a 15-5 lead. Mocs led off the scoring with a double steal at the corners, followed by RBI hits from Fitts and Rivera. NSU had a sac fly in the top of the sixth, but FSC added another three runs in the bottom of the sixth to go up 18-6. The Sharks had a few runs in the top of the eighth and ninth, though FSC held on for the dominating 18-9 win.
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The Mocs will have a road series at Saint Leo University on April 4-5, beginning with a 6 p.m. Friday night game at the Thomas B. Southard Stadium.
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