Spartans Sweep On Senior Day
TAMPA, Fla. - The No. 19 University of Tampa Spartans swept the Sunshine State Conference series three games to none against Rollins College thanks to two wins on Senior Day. The Spartans took game one 12-5 and won the second game 2-1. The sweep puts Tampa at 35-12 on the season and 13-5 in conference play, while the Tars drop to 22-21, 5-13 in the SSC.
Tampa picked up a run in the first frame, but quickly fell behind in the third when the Tars tagged starter Carmine Giardina for five runs. The Spartans got two back in the bottom half of the inning when Tyler Cox led it off with a triple. Second baseman Correy Figueroa singled in Cox and Steven Broschofsky added an RBI fielder's choice to cut the lead to 5-3.
Cox drove in Jesus Barroso in the fourth to pull Tampa to within one behind a strong pitching performance from Daniel Foltz (3-0) who entered in the third for Giardina.
The Spartan bats got going in the sixth after Garrett Maines tripled to start things off. Casey Albanese followed with a run-scoring double. Jose Jimenez added a two-RBI single in the inning and Broschofsky doubled in a run of his own. Tampa put up two more runs in the seventh thanks to double from senior Brandan Teague that plated Cox and Albanese.
Foltz tossed five and one-third scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and striking out one, to earn his third victory of the season. Lefty Jimmy Moser entered in the ninth and threw one scoreless inning to finish out the win.
The Spartans got three solid innings from Josh Bowman, making his first start since February. Bowman allowed one run to the Tars while striking out three.
Down 1-0 in the third, Rollins starter Tim Griffin issued two walks and hit a batter to load the bases with Spartans. Jimenez hit a long sacrifice fly to score Cox from third. Correy Figueroa came around to score on the play when the Tars defense threw away the ball in an attempt to throw out an advancing Mike Schwartz.
The one-run lead was all Alex Koronis (5-1) needed as finished out the remainder of the game on the hill for Tampa. Koronis tossed four innings of one-hit ball to earn the win. He walked just two batters while striking out six.
Next weekend, the Spartans will travel to Miami Shores, Fla., to take on the SSC-leading Barry Buccaneers beginning on Friday. UT will offer livestats through www. tampaspartans.com.