Tampa Falls In Heartbreaker To Florida Tech

Box score

MELBOURNE, Fla. - Despite a three-run lead in the ninth inning against Sunshine State Conference foe Florida Tech, the No. 16 University of Tampa Spartans dropped the first game of the conference series 10-9 thanks to a walk off single. Tampa falls to 28-11 on the season and 6-4 in the SSC while the Panthers move to 24-13 overall, 7-6 in league play.

The Spartans fell behind early when Danny Keefe made his fourth start for the Spartans. Keefe finished with five innings, allowing six earned runs, four of which came off a grand slam by the Panthers' Jose Vazquez. Keefe struck out three and walked just one on the afternoon before eventually leaving the game with the lead.

Senior Casey Albanese led the Spartan comeback with a 3-for-4 day, driving in three runs, including a crucial two RBI single in the sixth that pulled the game to within one. Tyler Cox also had a big day for Tampa, hitting his second home run of the year while going 3-for-5. Jesus Barroso and Mike Schwartz each added two runs batted in on the day to fuel the Tampa offense.

Tommy Meagher entered for Keefe and quickly got into a bases loaded jam before Alex Koronis entered with no outs in the inning. Koronis (3-1) retired the next nine consecutive batters in the sixth, seventh, and eighth before getting into trouble in the ninth.

Chris Fox and Mitch Saum led off the inning with walks before FIT designated hitter Kevin Villa took a ball over the right field wall to tie the game. Tony Moos followed with an RBI single to clinch a walk off win for the Panthers. Colin Miegs (1-0) picked up with win for Florida Tech.

Tampa will finish the weekend series against FIT tomorrow afternoon in a doubleheader beginning at noon. UT will offer livestats www.tampaspartans.com.