Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (Mar. 27, 2010) The Nova Southeastern University baseball team won a pair of one run games to sweep Rollins College in a Sunshine State Conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. The 9-8 and 7-6 victories improve the Sharks record to 19-15 on the season, including 4-5 in SSC play. Rollins falls to 20-13 and 4-5.
"This was our signature weekend of the season so far," said NSU head coach Michael Mominey. "Winning three consecutive one run conference games speaks highly of the character of this team. We need to take advantage of the momentum we have gained and carry it over into the rest of the conference weekends."
The Sharks found themselves down 8-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning of game one. Pinch hitter Nikko Echevarria (So., Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia) started a NSU rally with a leadoff single. After a fly out, four consecutive singles by Matt Fisher, Matt Seese, Luis Penate and Eric McCans brought the Sharks back into the game. NSU managed seven runs in the inning off of six hits and a Tar error.
A suicide squeeze executed by McCans (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) with one out in the bottom of the ninth sent the game into extra innings.
The game would remain scoreless until senior All-America right fielder Brayan Valencia (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) hit a walk-off double with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning.
Sophomore reliever Sean Tighe (Hobe Sound, Fla.) earned the victory, pitching three scoreless innings. He did not allow a hit and struck out four.
Nova Southeastern began the second game the way they ended the first by jumping out to a 7-0 lead after two innings. The Tars clawed their way back into the game, scoring four runs in the third inning and solo runs in the fourth and fifth.
The Sharks went to junior closer Sean Albury (Nassau, Bahamas) to close the door in the final two innings. Albury retired all six batters, two on strikeouts, to earn his eighth save of the season.
Junior Sean Koecheler (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) was credited with the victory, allowing two runs in two and one-thirds innings pitched.
Nova Southeastern remains at home to host Florida Tech in a non-conference game at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 30th at the NSU Baseball Complex.
