LAKELAND, Fla. – The No. 10 Florida Southern College baseball team lost its first game of the NCAA DII South Regional in an 11-6 loss against No. 20 University of West Florida on Friday night at Henley Field.
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The Moccasins (37-14-1) staged a late rally in the ninth, scoring four runs, but came up short in the first loss of the NCAA regional tournament. The Argonauts (35-19) remain the only unbeaten team in the tournament after a big win over the Mocs.
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Florida Southern struggled offensively for most of the game, ending with eight hits, half in the ninth inning alone.
Jevin Relaford and
Mikey Scott led the team with two hits each, then solo hits by
Grant Thoroman, Rohsean Riley, Cory Filey, and
Brady Doorey.
Jordan Fox had the start for FSC, going five innings with seven hits.
Ethan Breslin pitched one inning in relief, followed by three innings by
Evan Mobley to end the game.
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West Florida had 12 hits as a team, led by the catcher Brett Rowell and outfielder Dean Hotz with three hits each. Tanner Taylor had two hits, with a host of Argos finishing with solo hit outings. Hotz had a big day with two home runs and a double for three RBI, though the team's MVP of the night was Dalton Neuschwander on the mound. He went eight innings with 13 strikeouts for his ninth win of the season, though it took three Argos to wrap up the final inning to prevent the FSC comeback.
The game opened with two scoreless innings before a solo homer by Hotz in the third put the first run on the board for UWF. They scored seven unanswered runs before FSC had their first run of the game on an RBI single by Scott. The Argos made it a 10-2 game in the seventh on another Hotz homer and RBI single by Taylor. Relaford had an RBI single in the eighth to add a single run, though that was matched in the ninth by the Argos with an 11-3 lead. The Mocs staged an epic comeback with back-to-back bases-loaded walks to score two, followed by a two-RBI single by Scott for an 11-6 UWF lead. A strikeout and pop-up ended the game with the 11-6 Argos win, the first loss of the tournament by the Mocs.
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The Mocs will face Delta State University tomorrow, May 17, with a 2 p.m. start at Henley Field in an elimination game, with the winner advancing to play West Florida in the 6 p.m. game.
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