Tigers End Spartans Season in Tough Battle

CLEVELAND, Miss. - The No. 4 University of Tampa Spartans took on West Alabama and were defeated in a close 7-6 loss. The Spartans conclude their season at 39-14.  

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

Final: West Alabama 7, No. 4 Tampa 6 
Records: Tampa (39-14), West Alabama (37-20)
Location: Harvey Stadium-Ferriss Field | Cleveland, Miss.
All-time Series: Tampa leads the all-time series with West Alabama by a close 2-1 mark. 
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How it happened

• The Tigers wasted no time getting on the board in the top of the first. They picked up three runs after a two RBI homerun was roped to right field.
• The Spartans fought back in the bottom of the first starting with Kevin Santa being walked to reach first base. J.D. Osborne then reached on a fielder's choice and Santa advanced to second on a fielding error by the shortstop. Vin Cosenzo came up to the plate and singled to center field scoring Santa. Darren Miller hit a sacrifice fly that would advance Cosenzo to third and bring Osborne across home plate. Connor Crile reached on a fielding error by the second baseman and Cosenzo scored, tying the score 3-3 heading into the second inning. 
• In the bottom of the third Miller hit a solo home run to left field that gave the Spartans their first lead of the game, 4-3. 
• The West Alabama bats got hot in the top of the fourth as they scored four runs to regain the lead, 7-4. 
• Both teams remained scoreless until the bottom of the eighth when the Spartans put one run on the board, closing in on the Tigers lead. The inning started with a walk for Chris Gaffney. Then, Danny Lee singled to left field and moved Gaffney to second base. Richie Rivera came up to bat and singled through the right side moving all players forward. Santa singled to center field and scored Gaffney making the score 7-5.
• The Spartans scored again in the bottom of the ninth after Cosenzo hit a deep home run to right field with no recorded outs on the board. The Spartans were unable to get their momentum going, and were defeated by the Tigers with the score of 7-6.  

Inside the Stats 

• Santa went 2-2 with one run and one RBI
• Cosenzo went 2-5 with two runs and two RBI
• Miller went 1-4 with two RBI

Beyond the Boxscore:

• Garrett Cave pitched for 5.1 innings, allowed no hits, and recorded 10 strikeouts
• Tampa finishes their season as Sunshine State Conference Champions with a record of 39-14.

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