Box Score

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern baseball team (7-3) earned its first road loss of the season Tuesday afternoon as they fell to the Florida Tech Panthers (8-4) in Melbourne, Fla., 6-5.

Andrew Durden (Sr., Port St. Lucie, Fla.) put forth a solid effort in defeat as he went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Batting behind him in the lineup was Nikko Echevarria (Jr., Abqaib, Saudi Arabia) who went 2-for-3 with two runs.

The Sharks started the game with a bang, scoring three runs on two home runs in the first inning. Echevarria earned his team’s first hit with a single to celnterfield. Durden followed up with his third home run of the year, a two-run bomb over left centerfield.

With the bases empty, Areo Regoli (Jr., Homestead, Fla.), the Sharks’ leader in RBI (14), hit a solo homer by the left field line to put the Sharks up, 3-0. The home run was his team-high fourth of the season. Regoli has now collected a hit, a run, and a RBI in seven of his first ten games as a Shark.

The Panthers bounced back in the third inning by tying the game at three runs apiece. FIT only earned two hits in the inning as the Sharks forced two runners home on a walk and a hit-by-pitch. The Sharks walked four batters in the bottom of the third. The Panthers took the lead by scoring a run in the fourth as well.

The Sharks retook the lead in the fifth inning as they scored two runs. Echevarria led off the inning with a walk and was followed up by Durden’s single to right field. Dusty Maggs (Sr., Satellite, Beach, Fla.) tied the game on his only hit of the day, a double to right centerfield. The Panthers loaded the bases by walking Regoli before Haven Fitzsimmonds (Sr., Loxahatchee, Fla.) took the lead for the Sharks with a double to right field. The Sharks almost went up by two runs by Maggs was tagged out at the plate.

Florida Tech tied it up in the eighth when Gus Fernandez scored off a wild pitch. Echevarria earned his second straight walk but was stranded at third base at the end of the side. FIT’s K.C. Clabough hit a one-out single to right centerfield in the bottom of the ninth and stole second. The Sharks intentionally walked the next batter before loading the bases on a controversial hit-by-pitch call.

Sean Albury (Nassau, Bahamas) (0-1) struck out the next batter swinging but picked up his first loss of the season by hitting the next batter, advancing Clabough home. FIT’s Cory Bernstine (1-0) earned the victory by keeping the Sharks scoreless over the final two innings.

In the end, 16 Panther batters reached base on a walk or a hit-by-pitch. Despite only seven hits, FIT left 14 runners on base.

The Sharks will look to bounce back this Friday as they begin a weekend series in Livingston, Ala. against West Alabama. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.