Combination of Power, Small Ball Fuel Spartan Sweep

Box score

TAMPA, Fla. - The second-ranked University of Tampa (42-9, 20-4 SSC) baseball team picked up a pair of victories over Rollins College (25-28, 9-15 SSC) to conclude Sunshine State Conference play. The 2007 SSC champions registered 16-4 and 8-6 victories to finish out the sweep of the Tars on Senior Day for the Spartans, who honored 10 players between games.

In game one, the Spartans got on the board first with three runs in their half of the second. Chris Rosenbaum and Nolan Brannon added RBI singles to get UT on the board as Junior Mejia drove in Troy Ferguson on a sacrifice fly.

The Tars cut the lead to 3-2 with a pair of fourth inning runs courtesy of a two-run home run by Mike Crane. That was all the runs that Tampa starter Ross Jackson allowed as he pitched six innings, giving up six hits with four strikeouts while improving his record to 7-4 on the season.

Tampa answered back with two in the sixth and three in the seventh as Mejia drove in his second run of the game in the sixth. The second run of the inning came on a wild pitch that allowed Brannon to cross home plate. In the seventh, the red hot Roberto Mena led off the inning with a solo home run. Mejia then scored Rosenbaum and Charlie Raley on a two-out double.

Rollins cut the UT lead to 8-3 following an eighth inning solo shot by Corey Whiting. The Spartans responded with a leadoff home run by Ryan Williams, who was pinch hitting for Paul Cruz. Mena then continued the spectacular as he hit another home run, this time a two-run shot to score Ryan Kennedy. Brett McKean then extended the lead to 13-3 as he hit a pinch hit, bases load double to score two Spartans.

After batting around in the eighth, Williams set a school record while connecting on his second home runs of the inning. The latter was a three-run homer that scored DJ Fuentes and McKean to make the score 16-3 to cap of an eight run inning. The final Rollins run came in the ninth inning on a three-base throwing error by Raley.

In game two, Kennedy gave Tampa a quick 1-0 advantage with a lead-off home run. The Spartans stretched the lead to 2-0 in the second inning on an RBI single by Mejia, scoring Raley.

UT starting pitcher Scott Chapman breezed through the first four innings before running into some trouble in the fifth inning. The Tars used consecutive singles through the left side by Eugene Martinez and Ryan Maddern to even the score at 2-2. With runners on second and third with one out, Scott Leffler was summoned from the bullpen, where he proceeded to get the final two outs without further damage.

After leading off the bottom of the fifth inning with a single, Craig Corrado accounted for the go-ahead run to give Tampa a 3-2 lead on a two-out single by Ferguson. Rollins took its first lead of the afternoon on a two-run sixth courtesy of a two-run single by Maddern.

The Rollins lead did not last long as Tampa reverted to "small ball" in their half of the sixth. A total of three bunt singles helped UT score five runs, two of which came on a single by Corrado. A wild pitch then scored Kennedy followed by a Jose Jimenez sacrifice fly that scored Corrado. The final run of the inning was on a Rosenbaum single to left center.

Craig Benner, who tossed 1/3 of an inning, recorded the victory to move to 1-0 on the season. Rollins added a pair of runs in the seventh as Rick Hudson earned his first career save after entering with one out in the final inning.

The Spartans will now travel to Newberry for a three-game series beginning on Thursday with a 3 p.m. doubleheader.