Tampa Walks-Off With Win Over Stillman
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Stillman
|
2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 2 |
|
Tampa
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 13 | 5 |
TAMPA, Fla. - After trailing Stillman College for most of the night, the No. 5 University of Tampa baseball team walked-off with a late inning win to take the first game of the weekend series by a 10-9 margin. The Spartans improve to 5-2 on the season while the Tigers plummet to a 4-5 record on the year.
The back-and-forth battle began in the first for Stillman as they plated two runners off the bat of Jarius Brown. The Tigers cushioned their lead in the third off of a two-run double by shortstop Cameron McCreless putting the score to a 5-0 Stillman advantage.
The Spartans answered back after a two-out rally. Tampa plated four with a pair of two RBI doubles from shortstop Patrick Donahue and second baseman Raiko Alfonso. Alfonso ended the night with three hits and three RBI in four at-bats.
The Tigers had no answer for Daniel Foltz as he pitched 3.1 innings of relief to keep the Spartans in the game. They later took a 9-7 lead in the eighth with RBI from pinch hitter Heath Pritchard and third baseman Eric Grabe.
Stillman knotted it up at the top of the ninth with an RBI groundout from outfielder Mike Jackson and a throwing error that scored Tiger catcher Patrick Chamberlain.
Donahue ended the night with a bases loaded RBI single to right field to score Cody Davis after leading off the inning with a three-bagger to right-center. Catcher Mike Bourdon went 3-for-4 on the evening with a walk to improve to a .500 batting average on the season.
Stillman's Jackson notched two hits, two runs and two RBI on the Friday night thriller. McCreless nearly mirrored Jackson's performance as he also added two hits and three RBI of his own for the Tigers.
Tim Kiley picked up the win for the Spartans, pitching two-thirds of the ninth giving up no hits and fanning one. Erik Schmich was handed the loss giving up two runs in as many hits in his one inning of work.
The Spartans hit the field again with a doubleheader Saturday, slated to start at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available through www.tampaspartans.com. 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 atwww.tampaspartans.com.