ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College baseball team fell to 2013 Div. II national champion No. 1 University of Tampa, 9-1, on Friday night at the Turley Athletic Complex.
Tampa (37-2, 12-1 SSC) picked up its seventh straight win in the series opener over Eckerd (21-14, 8-8 SSC).
Two hit batters, a single from senior Michael Danner, a Giovanny Alfonzo double and a squeeze bunt from junior Orlando Rivera brought in three runs for the Spartans in the second inning to give them all the runs they would need to pull out the win.
Tampa scattered nine hits after the second – including a solo home run from Danner and a two-RBI blast from senior Quinn Pippin – to climb to a 9-1 lead.
A one-out single to first base off the bat of sophomore
Matt MacMahon got the Tritons started in the fifth. MacMahon would later score on a Spartans' throwing error on a dropped third strike play.
Senior
Chris Hanson led off the sixth inning with a double to left-center field and junior
Mike Abraham followed with a single up the middle as the Tritons threatened to score again, but sophomore Michael Calkins entered the game on the mound for Tampa and closed out the inning unharmed.
EC starter
Richard Cruz-Sanchez worked out of a bases loaded and no outs situation in the fourth, and second baseman
Lucas Luopa made a leaping catch to snag a line drive up the middle in the seventh to prevent the Spartans from extending their lead further.
Spartans' starter David Heintz earned the win on the mound to improve to 7-0. Heintz tossed 5.1 innings and allowed one run (unearned) on six hits and struck out four.
Rivera, Danner and Alfonzo each collected three hits in the win, while Abraham and Luopa each tallied two hits for the Tritons.
The series will conclude tomorrow with a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.
Live stats and video will be available on
www.EckerdTritons.com.
