Spartans Take First Game Of Series From Rollins

Box score

TAMPA, Fla. - The No. 19 University of Tampa baseball team took care of Rollins College in the opening game in the Sunshine State Conference series matchup. With the win, UT moves to 33-12 and 11-5 in the SSC while Rollins drops to 22-19, 6-11.

The Spartans got to work quickly off Tars starter Marc Hewett (3-2) as Correy Figueroa drew a walk and then advanced to third on a Mike Schwartz double down the right field line. First baseman Jose Jimenez drove in Figueroa with a single through the right side. Both Schwartz and Jimenez came around to score on a two base hit to left-center by sophomore Jared Simon.

Rollins got on the board in the third as Bryan Bennett singled in Justin Yount. UT responded in the bottom half of the inning when Jimenez reached with a walk and scored on Steven Broschofsky's tenth homer of the season.

Garrett Maines led off the fourth inning with a single, and was followed by a double from Casey Albanese. Shortstop Jesus Barroso stroked another double to left and extended the Spartan lead to 7-1.

Tampa added a run in the fifth and Rollins tacked a run on in the seventh to make the score 8-2. Danny Keefe (4-4) started for the Spartans and picked up the win after tossing 5.2 innings. Keefe surrendered one unearned run on seven hits while striking out three. Rick Hudson made his season debut in relief and got the only batter he faced to ground out to short. Max Kreuter came in the seventh and closed the game out to earn his second save on the year.

The Spartans and Tars wrap up the series tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at 1:00 PM. UT will offer livestats through www.tampaspartans.com.