Spartans Fall to Valdosta in Slugfest

TAMPA, Fla.  – Spartans lose to Valdosta State in a dramatic extra-inning thriller.

Final Score: Valdosta State Blazer (15), No. 5 University of Tampa Spartans (14)

Records: Tampa 24-7 (13-3 SSC), Valdosta State 21-9 (13-6 SSC)

Location: Billy Grant Field || Valdosta, Ga.

All-Time Series: The Spartans are 34-24 against the Blazers.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Spartans came out of the ballgame swinging. Jordan Lala would get a leadoff single, Drew Ehrhard then singled, followed by a J.D. Urso single to bring home Lala for the game's first run. E.J. Cumbo wanted to take part in the action with an RBI double to bring home Ehrhard. Anthony Nunez would then bring home Urso with a groundout. Later in the inning, Danny Gutcher and Jamarcus Lyons would both have RBI singles to cap off a five-spot in the opening frame. Top 1 | 5-0 Tampa
• The Blazers would get one back in the bottom of the frame. End 1 | 5-1 Tampa
• The Blazers continued to cut their deficit to two with two runs in the second. End 2 | 5-3 Tampa
• Valdosta would cut the Spartan's lead to one. End 3 | 5-4 Tampa
• Santiago Garavito had a huge two-out double to bring home Urso for an enormous insurance run. Top 5 | 6-4 Tampa
• Lala would get his third hit of the day to bring home, Lyons. Urso also hit his third long ball of the year. Top 6 | 8-4 Tampa
• The Blazers would cut the Spartan's lead to three. Bot 6 | 8-5 Tampa
• Nunez would hit his second bomb of the year; however, the Blazers would score 6 runs in the bottom half of the inning. End 7 | 11-9 Valdosta State
• Cumbo would hit a rope to right field, and thanks to some miscues in the outfield, the Spartans would get 3 runners to come across the plate. Top 8 | 12-11 Tampa
• Lyons would single in Jose Cadenas for a huge insurance run. Top 9 | 13-11 Tampa
• Valdosta would score two in the ninth to put the game into extras. End 9 | 13-13 Tie
• Tampa would catch a break in extras with a fielding error from the Blazer's shortstop to take the lead. Top 10 | 14-13 Tampa
• Valdosta would hang around with a clutch two-out hit to play more free baseball. End 10 | 14-14 Tie
• The Blazers would get one in the bottom of the eleventh to pull off an impressive win. Final | 14-15  Blazers

INSIDE THE STATS:

• Lala: 4-6, RBI, & R
• Lyons: 4-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB
• Urso: 3-7, 4 R, & 2 RBI

UP NEXT: Tampa will head to Melbourne for a weekend series against Florida Tech. First pitch Friday is 6:00 PM.