Top-ranked Spartans Improve to 14-1 with Win over Lake Erie

Box score

TAMPA, Fla. - Hot off an exhibition win over Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies, the No. 1 ranked University of Tampa Spartans baseball team hit the field on Tuesday evening to take a 5-3 victory over the Lake Erie College Storm.

The visiting Storm jumped on the scoreboard early, picking up one run in the first inning when the top of the order capitalized on the combination of a walk, a wild pitch, and a single.

Tampa responded, however, in the bottom of the inning to force a 2-1 lead. Both Andrew Amaro and Stephen Dezzi took bases on balls, and Ian Townsend answered the call by sending a 2 RBI single to right field to put the Spartans up by one.

After four scoreless innings, Lake Erie got their bats going in the top of the sixth inning, rallying for two runs to take a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, however, Tampa made their move. Junior outfielder Casey Scoggins led off the inning with a single to the left-center gap, and two outs later, Stephen Dezzi sent a homerun ball over the right-centerfield wall.

The Spartans tacked on another run in the bottom of the eighth, thanks to an RBI sacrifice fly off the bat of pinch hitter Ty Cooler. Tampa would eventually win the game 5-2.

Junior Brad Hencke started on the mound for the Spartans Tuesday night contest, tossing three complete innings and allowing just one hit and one run with four strikeouts. Senior righty Brett Jones took the mound in the fourth inning, however, throwing two full innings before junior Zac Favre made a relief appearance.

As the Storm took the lead in the top of the sixth, junior lefty Michael Calkins came into the inning with the bases loaded and no outs, getting the Spartans out of a jam with a 1-2-3 outing. The junior finished out the game with four innings pitched, allowing just two hits and striking out six batters in the victory.

No. 1 Tampa will return to play tomorrow, March 4 when they host visiting Cedarville University. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at UT Baseball Field on the campus of the University of Tampa. Live stats as well as a live video webcast will be available through www.tampaspartans.tv.

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