March 5, 2011
#6 Spartans Split With Hawks
TAMPA, Fla. - The No. 6 University of Tampa baseball team earned a doubleheader split with visiting Rockhurst University on Saturday. The Spartans (11-4) took game one 5-1 and fell 6-0 to the Hawks (1-1) in the nightcap.
The Spartan offense jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage as it drove across a run in the first. Senior Patrick Donahue reached on a hit by pitch to lead off the Tampa half of the inning. Raiko Alfonso followed with a double and Shawn Pleffner got the RBI with a deep sac fly to center field.
Tampa would never trail in the contest as Mike Bourdon doubled home Trace Venegas in the second and Eric Grabe added his second homer of the season, a two-run shot scoring Donahue, in the third.
Starter Evan Stobbs followed up his shutout last weekend with another impressive performance as he limited the Hawks to just three hits over six innings. While Rockhurst got on the board in the third with its lone run of the game, Stobbs fanned nine en route to his third win of the season. Max Kreuter entered in the seventh and shut the door for three scoreless innings to pick up his first save of the campaign.
In game two, it was the Hawks offense that got out to the fast start. Rockhurst strung together three hits in the first frame off starter Frank DeJiulio to scratch out a run before tallying another in the second. DeJiulio appeared to settle in but the Hawk batters got on the board again in the fifth. Benefiting from an error and a Mike Adams wild pitch, RU took a commanding 5-0 lead.
The Spartans threatened several times in the game but failed to muster the necessary comeback. In the third, Tampa managed to load the bases with two outs but Pleffner lined out to short to end the inning. While the offense was mostly dormant in the seven-inning affair, catcher Adam Pendleton highlighted the sixth with a triple to deep left-center.
T.J. Dailey capped off the Hawk scoring with a solo shot in the final frame to earn the doubleheader split for Rockhurst.
DeJiulio (2-1) took his first loss of the season while RU's Mark Sappington (1-0) tossed six shutout innings to notch a win in his first start of the year.
The Spartans take the field again tomorrow in a 1 p.m. contest at home against Seton Hill. Tampa will also take on Saint Joseph's at 7 p.m. on Monday and Slippery Rock at 6 p.m. on Wednesday before traveling to Nova Southeastern for its first Sunshine State Conference series of 2011. 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.