#4 Spartans Ready For Battle with Florida Tech

TAMPA, Fla. - The University of Tampa baseball team enters the stretch run as the fourth-ranked team in the nation following a 2-1 series victory against Sunshine State Conference rival Lynn University last week. The Spartans come into week 11 of the season with an overall record of 28-6-1 and an 8-4 mark in the SSC.

Tampa has the first four days of the week free of games before it hosts Florida Tech in a three-game series on Friday and Saturday to continue conference play. The Spartans faced the Panthers once already this season, dropping a close 2-1 contest in the ninth inning for their first loss of 2008. Despite the early season loss, the Spartans hold a 68-21 mark all-time against the Panthers heading into this weekend's matchup of two of the top five teams in the Sunshine State Conference.

Senior outfielder Paul Cruz earned SSC Player of the Week honors this week for the first time in his career, fresh off a 6-13 weekend series against Lynn in which he tied a career with a four-hit game in the series finale, including what proved to be the game-winning home run in the seventh inning. Cruz now leads the Spartans with a .386 batting average, and also leads the team with 10 doubles, three triples. The native of Brandon, Fla. is also tied with Nolan Brannon for the team lead in RBI with 30 this season.

Sophomore closer Anthony Perez entered last week's play tied for the NCAA II lead in saves with 10 in as many opportunities this season, and followed up a two save performance in week 10 with two more last week against Lynn. Perez closed out game one of the doubleheader on Friday, and the series finale on Saturday with a combined four and two-thirds innings, allowing one run on three hits, walking none and striking out six. The native of Miami, Fla. now leads all of NCAA II baseball with 12 saves, and has posted a 1.17 earned run average in 30 and two-thirds innings of work, striking out 36 of the batters he has faced this season.

The University of Tampa provides live stats for all games through www.tampaspartans.com. An audio/video webcast is also available for home games, and an audio broadcast will be available for most away games.

Click here for this week's baseball notes