Tampa Rolls Over Stillman in Tournament Opener

Box score

TAMPA, Fla. - The number one seed University of Tampa (39-9-1) proved to be too much for sixth-seeded Stillman College (26-25), as the Spartans cruised to a 21-1 victory over the Tigers in game one of the NCAA II Baseball South Region Tournament.

Tampa got to Tigers starter Graham Wright (2-2) early. In the bottom of the second, following a walk by Nolan Brannon, the Spartans tallied the first runs of the game on left fielder Steven Broschofsky's sixth homerun of the season. Tampa added three more runs to cap off the inning when Jesus Barroso contributed an RBI single and designated hitter Ryan Williams drove a 1-0 pitch down the line scoring two.

Barroso led the Spartan bats, finishing the day 3 for 5 with seven RBIs, including a grand slam homerun over the left field wall in the bottom of the seventh. Paul Cruz, Junior Mejia, Garrett Maines, Broschofsky, Kane, and Williams each collected two RBIs in the game for Tampa. Leo Alvarez and Brenton Cianci each had one.

The 21 runs, capped off by Maines' fourth homerun of the season in the eighth, is a season-high for the Spartans, their highest output in a regional game since 2001 against Saint Leo.

The Tiger offense struggled against Spartan starter John Wiedenbauer, who opened up the game by striking out the first three batters and five of the first six. Wiedenbauer threw three scoreless innings, allowing one hit with six strikeouts before right-hander Nate Titus took the mound in the fourth for the remainder of the game.

Stillman avoided a shutout in the seventh when third baseman Dustin Green walked and right fielder David Holcombe followed with an RBI double down the left field line. Titus (2-0) allowed three hits and one earned run, while striking out four through six innings to earn the win.

Tampa will face the loser of #3 Catawba and #4 Florida Tech tomorrow at 3 p.m. Stillman will go up against the loser of #2 Tusculum and #5 Carson-Newman at 11 a.m.