Tampa Concludes Doubleheader Sweep of Florida Southern With Walk-Off Double

TAMPA, Fla. – The No. 3 University of Tampa (33-7, 15-3 SSC) baseball team rebounded from a loss in the season opener to sweep No. 14 Florida Southern College (27-13, 9-6 SSC) by scores of 11-3 and 7-6 in a Saturday doubleheader from the UT Baseball Field.

In game one, Tampa scored the first run of the game in the top of the first inning. Casey Scoggins led things off in the inning as he lined a single into centerfield. He then moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third base after Danny Lee dropped down a sacrifice bunt. Scoggins would come around to score after Laz Rivera dropped a single into centerfield.  

Florida Southern answered back in the top of the fifth inning after the two teams were held scoreless. Evan Barnes would score from second base after Shawn Sanders singled into to left centerfield to tie the ballgame up at 1-1.

Chris Gaffney started the seventh inning with a double out to left centerfield. He was followed by Vincent Minet, who reached after being hit by a pitch as he was trying to sacrifice bunt Gaffney over. Zion Bell would then pinch run for Miniet, as Bell and Gaffney advanced after a Scoggins sacrifice bunt. Lee would the drive in both runners as he singled back up the middle to give the Spartans a 3-1 lead. J.D. Osborne would then follow Lee with a moonshot home run to leftfield to extend the lead to 5-1. After Cody deNoyelles drove in Rivera with a RBI double, he would be brought in on a Vin Cosenzo home run to right center field to push the lead to 8-1.

UT would add three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring the first run on a bases loaded walk to Chacon. The second run came into score after deNoyelles reached on a fielding error by the Mocs shortstop. The 11^th and final run came off the bat of Cosenzo, as he hit a sacrifice fly to right field.

Kevin Martin earned the victory for the Spartans, as the lefty went seven strong innings, allowing just one run on five hits. He would also strike out five Mocs in the outing.

Trey Oest threw one perfect inning with a strike out, and Nick Nolan got the Spartans the final three outs to secure the 11-3 victory.

In game two, the Mocs got out to an early 4-0 lead as they plated one in the first and three in the second.

Cosenzo continued on his hot day in the second when he slugged a two-run homer to right-center, scoring Chacon to cut the FSC lead to 4-2. Following an RBI groundout by Lee in the fifth, Cosenzo put the Spartans on top with his third home run of the day in a two-run shot in the sixth inning.

The lead would be quickly surrendered when Florida Southern scored a pair of unearned run in the top of the seventh, grabbing a 6-5 lead.

Doing what it has done all season, the Spartans mounted another ninth inning rally as Gaffney and Zion Bell each notched base hits to start the inning. The runners would move up on a Scoggins sacrifice and were down to their last out when Osborne took a 1-2 pitch down the third-base line for a two-run game-winning double. Pinch runner Kyle Cotilletta would score the game-winning run as he replaced Gaffney.

Brad Hencke started for the Spartans, and threw 2.0 innings. Cody Martin entered and pitched 5.0 innings while allowing just three hits and no earned runs. Martin also struck out three Mocs. Michael Calkins pitched the eighth and ninth innings, finishing with four punchouts in a perfect 2.0 innings. Calkins moved to 2-2 on the year with the victory.

The Spartans are back in action next weekend for its final regular season homestand. UT will host Palm Beach Atlantic on Friday at 6 p.m., followed by a Saturday doubleheader at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available through TampaSpartans.com.

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