Luksis Pritches Spartans to Midweek Win
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Florida Memorial
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 0 |
|
Tampa
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | X | 6 | 11 | 1 |
TAMPA, Fla. - The University of Tampa baseball team defeated Florida Memorial University on Tuesday night in a midweek matchup. The win improves the Spartans to 23-5, while causing the NAIA Sun Conference Lions to fall to 15-22-1 on the season.
FMU was the first to get on board in the contest. After the Lions scored one in both the third and sixth innings, the Spartans began to respond.
Back to back doubles by seniors Eric Grabe and Heath Pritchard scored the Spartans' first run in the bottom of the sixth. A RBI single by sophomore Tyler Ding would add one more run to the board in that same inning.
In the Spartans' next chance at-bat, a two-RBI single by Pritchard allowed both Connor Obrochta and Zach Gawrych to score and the Spartans to take the lead. Pritchard would later score on a double by junior Jake Schrader.
The Lions collected two runs off the Spartan pitching staff in the top of eighth. A RBI single in the bottom of the inning by Anthony Caronia would allow one more Spartan to cross the plate.
Obrochta went 3-for-3 on the night with three singles and one walk while Pritchard and Ding both went 2-for-4. Pritchard contributed to five of the six Spartans runs by collecting three RBI and crossing the plate twice himself.
Junior Eric Luksis was the starting pitcher for the Spartans. Luksis went for six complete innings, tallying 10 strikeouts and allowing only one earned run and one walk. Ryan Kennedy pitched 1.2 innings of relief, allowed four hits and struck out one Lion. Sophomore Preston Packrall came in for 1.1 innings, gave up one hit and collected the save. Kennedy was awarded the win.
In the 6-4 Spartan victory, Tampa and Florida Memorial each had 11 hits total against their opponent.
The Spartans are scheduled to travel to Winter Park, Fla. On Friday to begin their three-game Sunshine State Conference series against Rollins College. The game will begin at 6 p.m. Live stats and a webcast will be available through TampaSpartans.com.
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