Top-Ranked Tampa Welcomes Bridgeport
TAMPA, Fla. - Riding a 12 game win-streak, the University of Tampa baseball team continues its control of the No. 1 ranking in each of the NCAA Division II polls. The Spartans own a 19-1 record to earn the top rank in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, College Baseball Lineup and D2 Baseball News respective polls.
The heavily represented Sunshine State Conference boasts rankings for Florida Tech, Lynn, Nova Southeastern, Florida Southern and Saint Leo, as each appear in at least one poll during the latest release.
In addition, the South Region features West Florida (No. 2), Alabama-Huntsville, Valdosta State and Delta State as ranked programs.
Spartan hurlers Preston Packrall (2-0), David Heintz (4-0) and Trey Oest (6-0) anchor a strong pitching staff. Packrall leads the team in ERA with a 0.41 over 22 innings of work while sophomore Oest has struck out a team-high 38 batters so far this season. Reliever Kevin McNorton has amassed four saves in his 2014 campaign to the tune of a 0.64 earned run average.
Junior Stephen Dezzi has been a tough out all season as the outfielder sports a .469 batting average to go along with 14 RBI and a pair of home runs. Senior Tyler Ding has plated a team-leading 21 batters while catcher Nick Tindall has slugged four long-balls.
The Tampa squad will face the University of Bridgeport Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at the UT Baseball Field. The Purple Knights are 3-5 on the season and are coming off a 1-3 series loss against Stonehill.
The weeknight matchup represents the first meeting between the two teams. Live stats as well as a live video webcast will be made available through www.tampaspartans.tv.
Fans may follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans), Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans), YouTube (youtube.com/utathletics) and Instragram (tampaspartans). UT also offers blAst, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.
Click here for Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll
Click here for College Baseball Lineup poll
Click here for NCBWA poll
Click here for D2 Baseball News poll