EC vs. Tampa (Game 1)
EC vs. Tampa (Game 2)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Heath Pritchard homered twice and Raiko Alfonso completed his monster series as second-ranked University of Tampa toppled the Eckerd College baseball program to end the Sunshine State Conference slate on Saturday, 12-1 and 16-1.
Pritchard recorded seven RBI with pair of homers in game two while Alfonso went a combined 5-for-7 with five runs scored spanning both contests for the Spartans' (35-8, 15-6 SSC) vaunted offensive attack.
Senior
Joe McLemore crushed his team-leading 10th home run and sophomore
Audry Santana roped a double to eventually score on an infield chopper by freshman Mike Abraham for the Tritons (15-28, 3-18 SSC).
In a coaching move that brought well-deserved applause from the stands, Eckerd pitchers
Joey Cuda and
Richard Cruz-Sanchez each had an at-bat when the finale was all but decided in the late stages.
With more professional scouts in the stands from organizations like the Anaheim Angels and Arizona Diamondbacks, UT lefty Sean Bierman scattered four hits and struck out seven for the game-one decision.
Bierman was backed by a 15-hit onslaught and the Spartans were aided by five Eckerd errors.
Senior
Alex Del Monte had two of the Tritons' seven hits in the effort. McLemore left the park to deep left field with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to prevent the shutout bid by Tampa.
After trading back scoreless frames through the first two full innings of play, Tampa broke things open with a three-run third on an RBI single by Alfonso, sacrifice fly from Damon Elder and run-scoring double off the bat of Andrew Jones.
EC relievers
Robbie Nabers,
Matt Ramsey and
Joe Clagg, each tossed one inning of unearned run ball from the pen.
Things spiraled out of control in game two after a seven-run second-inning outburst had Tampa out in front, 10-0.
Pritchard had an RBI double in his first at-bat and a two-run single in his next plate appearance before leaving the Turley Athletic Complex with two-run bombs in the third and fifth innings.
Cruz-Sanchez held things down at the end, striking out four in two scoreless innings.
Abraham also roped a pinch-hit single in game one to the right-center gap in addition to driving home Santana with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
The Tritons will next play host to Saint Leo University for a non-conference game on Tuesday night to begin the month of May. Despite the teams having a three-game conference series rained out (and not re-scheduled), this will be EC and SLU's second meeting in a non-conference situation dating back to Feb. 14.
