Tampa Sweeps the Bobcats in First Series

Box score

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. - The University of Tampa baseball team took the final game of the series, sweeping the Georgia College & State Bobcats by a score of 15-13. The Spartans improve to a perfect 3-0 while the Bobcats fall to 0-3. Jared Simon had two homers on the series while Brad Roberts batted .643 on the weekend series.

The scoring started in the second inning when Simon and Mike Blanke each singled to start off the inning, then a pair of walks given up by Bobcat pitcher Matt Kaplan loaded the bases and walked in a run. A fielder's choice that turned into a throwing error added two runs to the board, ending the inning with a score of 3-0.

Another costly throwing error by the Bobcats allowed a single by Roberts to advance to third while attempting to pick him off of first. Another single by Blanke scored Roberts, advancing the Spartans to a 4-0 lead. The Bobcats tied it up in the bottom of the third.

The top of the fourth resulted in two more runs, coming off a sacrifice fly from Tyler Cox and a RBI single from an already hot Roberts to put UT ahead of the Bobcats. In the bottom of the fourth, GCSU came back with a three run homer by Matt Pitts to gain the lead for the first time in the series with a score of 7-6.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Bobcats increased their lead with an RBI double from outfielder Andrew Evans to regain the lead. Simon hit his second homer of the series, a solo shot to left center in the seventh inning, making the score 9-7 in favor of the Bobcats. The eighth inning started off with a double by catcher Adam Pendleton followed by a walk to Correy Figueroa. Cox then bunted them both into scoring position. The hot hitting Roberts followed with a two run double to tie the game at 9.

The bottom of the eighth inning saw GCSU score 4 runs to take the lead at 13-9. The Spartans rallied back in the ninth to score six runs off of six hits, capitalizing off of a rough outing from Bobcats reliever Martin Dewald. Freshman Jake Lowe picked up the win for the Spartans while reliever Aaron Gerbasi earned the save.

The Spartans return home in time to face Rollins College in a non-Sunshine State Conference meeting. Game time is 6:00 p.m. Wednesday at The University of Tampa. Live stats and a webcast will be available through www.tampaspartans.com.

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