#8 Spartans Rally To Win Over Bearcats In Extras
| Final (11) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tampa
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
|
Lander
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
GREENWOOD, S.C. - In an 11-inning battle against host Lander University, the No. 8 University of Tampa baseball team used stellar pitching and some timely hitting to take a 5-2 victory on Friday afternoon.
Down 2-0 for most of the contest, the Spartans rallied late to tie up the ballgame and send it into extra frames. Catcher Adam Pendleton and designated hitter Taylor Wrenn led off the sixth inning with back-to-back base-knocks before Shawn Pleffner drove Pendleton home. In the eighth, Wrenn stroked his first of two doubles in the game and scored on an Eric Grabe single to knot the contest at two.
As the game went to extras, Aaron Gerbasi (1-1) dominated on the hill and Wrenn continued to steal the show offensively. After taking over in the eighth inning, Gerbasi walked the first batter he faced and sat down the next 11 in order. His three consecutive 1-2-3 innings gave the Spartan offense a chance to get going.
In the top of the 11th, Damon Elder singled to left for his first hit of the afternoon. Mike Bourdon followed with a sacrifice bunt to push Elder to second with one out. Tampa took advantage of an error by the Lander shortstop that allowed Elder to score and Raiko Alfonso to reach and advance to second. After Andrew Jones was intentionally walked, Wrenn notched his second double-and third hit-of the game to clear the bases and close out the game's scoring.
Evan Stobbs started on the mound for UT, tossing five innings and allowing two runs and five hits while fanning eight. Josh Thrailkill followed with two scoreless innings in relief of Stobbs to keep it close and Tim Kiley added a scoreless third of an inning. Ross Davis (0-1) was tabbed with the loss for the Bearcats.
Tampa will return to the diamond tomorrow night against Grand Valley State at 7 p.m. in their second game of the Lander Baseball Invitational.
Livestats will be available through Lander athletics. Fans may also follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans). UT also offers blAst, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.