ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Despite two late rallies, the Eckerd baseball team dropped both games of the doubleheader, with Nova Southeastern completing the series sweep with scores of 11-9 and 11-10 at the Turley Athletic Complex on Saturday afternoon.
The Sharks were out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning of the opener before extending the lead to two in the sixth. A six-run seventh inning followed by a three-run eighth inning saw Eckerd quickly fall far behind, 11-0. The Tritons rallied back with nine unanswered runs in the final two frames, with the comeback led by a Zade Stark grand slam in the eighth. With the tying run on first in the ninth, the Sharks closed the door on the opener 11-9.
Nova Southeastern got the early jump on Eckerd once again in the finale, with a 2-0 lead in the first. They added insurance runs in the third with a six-run inning. Stark added his sixth RBI of the day on a single to right field to open up the EC scoring in the bottom of the frame. A two-RBI single by Christian Cabina cut the Sharks' lead in half, with the Tritons trailing 8-4. The Tritons added two more in the fifth, cutting the deficit to three. Nova Southeastern added two more runs in the final two frames, growing their tally up to 11.
HOW IT ENDED
Game One
FINAL: Nova Southeastern 11, Eckerd 9
WP: Heyne (2-0) LP: Norwood (0-2) S: Rabagh (2) HR: NSU- DeGoti (3), EC- Stark (1)
Game Two
FINAL: Nova Southeastern 11, Eckerd 10
WP: Zapata (1-0) LP: Thomas (0-2) S: Nolasco (1) HR: NSU - Quevedo (2)
RECORDS: Eckerd 2-11 (0-3 SSC); Nova Southeastern 9-5 (3-0 SSC)
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Stark led with six RBIs on the day, including five in the opener.
- Cooper Nelson struck out eight, facing 16 batters over 3.2 innings of work.
- With hits in both games today, Kam Gelwick extended his hitting streak to eight games.
- Eckerd out-hit Nova Southeastern 14-11 in the finale.
- The Tritons turned one double-play in the opener.
- Aside from Stark, Luis Garrido, Coltin Pizzio, Cabina, and Christian Perez each had single-game multi-RBI performances on the day.
UP NEXT
Eckerd will host a non-conference midweek matchup against Davenport on Wednesday at 6:00 PM at the Turley Athletic Complex.
