Tritons Fall in Double-Header at Nova Southeastern

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The road was not kind to the Eckerd baseball team this weekend, as the Tritons were swept in a weekend series by Nova Southeastern including both ends of today's double-header as the Sharks took 7-4 and 12-6 wins.

Nova used a four-run fifth inning in the opening game to take a 5-0 lead, putting its first seven batters on safely before Gardner Nutter was able to pitch out of the jam in relief of Alex Moore.

The Tritons (6-7, 1-5 SSC) countered with two runs in the top of the sixth on an RBI double by Nick Hill and an error that allowed Hill to score after swiping third.

That, however, was as close as Eckerd could get to the Sharks' lead.  NSU scored a run in the seventh and eight innings, and while Eckerd matched that in the eighth and ninth innings, it wasn't enough to further close the gap.

The Tritons had a chance in the ninth inning after Jake O'Rourke hit a one-out solo home run followed by singles from Tom Buonopane and Hill to bring the tying run to the plate.  Devin Raftery, however, struck out Carter Cashman to end the game.

Eckerd had 11 hits in game one but stranded nine runners.  Buonopane went 3-for-5 from the leadoff spot while Hill added two hits.  Moore (1-2) took the loss, allowing five runs over four-plus innings while striking out five.

The Sharks again jumped on top early in game two, taking a 5-1 lead after three innings with four of those runs resulting from solo homeruns.

After sacrifice fly in the first inning by Zach Mitsmenn got Eckerd on the board, the Tritons plated two more in the fourth on an RBI double by Mitsmenn and a run-scoring groundout by Jake Romine.  However, Nova padded its lead with runs in the fifth and sixth followed by a four-run seventh while holding the Tritons scoreless in the top halves of the same frames.

Mitchell Calandra came through with a two-run homerun in the eighth and Nick Conti added a sacrifice fly in the ninth, but it wasn't enough to make up the deficit.

As they did in game one, the Tritons had 11 hits in game two with Calandra, Hill, O'Rourke and Daniel Autiello all accounting for two hits each.  Dillon McCollough (1-1) was tagged with the loss, allowing four runs over two-plus innings of work.

Eckerd returns to the field on Tuesday, hosting Cedarville (Ohio) at 6:00 PM.