ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd baseball team fell to No. 1 Tampa 10-1 and 12-0 (7 Innings) on Saturday afternoon at the Turley Athletic Complex.
Tampa led early and quickly worked its way to an 8-0 lead after the fifth, with three homeruns in the day's opener. The Spartans added another run in the sixth before Eckerd put up its only tally of the game on an RBI groundout by Alex Brazer in the sixth.
An RBI double to right field brought the Spartans to double-digits for a 10-1 lead. Cooper Nelson came in relief in the eighth and struck out four batters in the remaining two frames. He closed the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning, ending on back-to-back strikeouts. With two runners aboard reaching on errors, Eckerd had a chance to close the gap in the final frame, but they were unable to generate any more runs as Tampa took game one 10-1.
The Spartans wasted little time in game two, scoring two runs off an RBI double and a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead after two innings. Tampa added three apiece in the following two innings, including a three-run homer in the fourth. A grand slam in the fifth gave the Spartans double digits once again for a 12-0 lead. Two scoreless frames followed to close the game 12-0 in the seventh by run rule.
HOW IT ENDED
Game One
FINAL: Tampa 10, Eckerd 1
WP: Gonzales (11-0) LP: Ramos (2-9) S: Carson (4) HR: Garavito 2 (7), Saldino (3)
Game Two
FINAL: Tampa 12, Eckerd 0 (7 innings)
WP: Stipp (4-0) LP: Cox (1-2) HR: Griffith (4), Saldino (4)
RECORDS: Eckerd 16-23 (5-16 SSC); Tampa 37-4 (18-3 SSC)
NOTES AND NUMBERS
UP NEXT
Eckerd plays their final non-conference midweek game Tuesday against Florida Tech at the Turley Athletic Complex at 3:00 PM.
