ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd baseball team was unable to respond to the Spartans' five-run opening frame as No. 2 Tampa pulled away in the fifth to defeat the Tritons, 16-2, on senior night Thursday night at the Turley Athletic Complex.
Tampa struck first for an early lead with five runs in the first frame. Eckerd responded in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single by Tyler Cox. Mikey Burke delivered an RBI single in the second to pull EC within three runs, 5-2.
UT added to their lead with four runs in the fifth and five in the eighth for a 14-2 lead. The Spartans added another two insurance runs on a sacrifice fly and a walk in the ninth.
HOW IT ENDED
FINAL: No. 2 Tampa 16, Eckerd 2
WP: Sereda (2-1) LP: Durham (2-5)
RECORDS: Eckerd 18-28 (11-17 SSC); Tampa 39-9 (23-5 SSC)
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Mikey Burke, Dimerson Nunez, Mitch Donofrio, Tyler Cox, and Zach Pfeil each recorded a hit.
- Burke and Cox each collected an RBI.
- Eckerd honored its 10 seniors before the game: Mitch Donofrio, Kyle Durham, Jake Sanderson, Ryan Lashley, Troy Dunnam, Mikey Burke, Tyler Venditti, Connor Price, Danny Gutcher, and Zach Pfeil.
- Donofrio extended his reached base streak to 21 games while Cox and Nunez pushed theirs to 17 and 15 games, respectively.
UP NEXT
Eckerd concludes the season tomorrow with a doubleheader against Tampa slated for 3:00 PM.
