No. 11 Moccasins Topple No. 18 Spartans

Box score

LAKELAND, Fla. - In Friday night's Sunshine State Conference series opener against rival Florida Southern, the No. 18 University of Tampa Spartans fell to the No. 11 Moccasins by a final score of 11-3. UT drops to 37-15, 14-8 in the SSC, while FSC improves 36-11, 14-5 in league play.

Florida Southern scored in each of the first three innings off starter Josh Bowman (3-3) including a three-run blast in the second by designated hitter Andrew Grutka. Danny Keefe entered in relief of Bowman in the fourth and allowed just one and no runs hit over the course of three innings.

Keefe left the game with Tampa trailing 5-3, picking up runs off the bat of Mike Schwartz, Jesus Barroso, and Jared Simon. Barroso finished 3-for-4 on the night. The Moccasins got two back in the seventh and four in the eighth against four different Spartan relievers. Max Russell (8-1) shut down Tampa for most of his six and two-thirds innings to earn the win. He scattered 10 hits and struck out six. Dustin Merrell entered with two outs in the seventh and allowed just two hits the rest of the way to earn his second save of the season.

The two teams will close out the series on Sunday in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. UT will offer livestats through www.tampaspartans.com.