GAME ONE BOX SCORE | GAME TWO BOX SCORE

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern baseball team (19-8, 6-2 SSC) clinched a weekend-series victory by taking two wins against the Rollins Tars (18-11, 1-4 SSC) in Winter Park, Fla. Saturday afternoon. The Sharks pummeled the Tars in the first game, 14-9, before Sean Tighe (Sr., Hobe Sound, Fla.) pitched a complete-game shutout in game two to win, 5-0.

In game one, Andrew Durden (Sr., Port St. Lucie, Fla.) and Dusty Maggs (Sr., Satellite Beach, Fla.) both hit home runs as the Sharks poured 14 runs on the home team. Durden went 3-for-6 with three runs and two RBI while Maggs finished 2-for-4 with two runs, three RBI, and a walk.

Isaac Hicks (Sr., Fort Myers, Fla.) (4-2) earned his fourth victory of the season as he picked up three strikeouts without a walk over six innings. Hicks gave up four runs in the fifth but pitched five other shutout innings and averaged less than 10 pitches an inning up until the fourth.

After a 10-minute first inning, the Sharks established their dominance by scoring six runs in the second. Daniel Petitbon (Jr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Durden started off the frame with two standup doubles, one of which scored a run. Maggs and Anthony Angulo (Jr., Homestead, Fla.) loaded up the bases before Ray Navarro (Jr., Miami, Fla.) drove in a run on a single through the left side. Maggs was called out at the plate on Carlos Asuaje’s (Fr., Weston, Fla.) fielder’s choice but the bases remained loaded for Luis Penate’s (Sr., Miami, Fla.) double to right field that plated all runners. Areo Regoli (Jr., Homestead, Fla.) completed NSU’s biggest inning with an RBI double to right centerfield.

Maggs hit his fifth home run of season in the third inning on a two-run blast to right field. It was Magg’s third home run over the last six games. Navarro followed up with a double to right centerfield and scored on Asuaje’s single up the middle. The Sharks would go up 10-0, their biggest lead of the game, in the fourth when Durden hit a solo bomb to left centerfield, his team-best seventh home run of the season.

The Tars had their biggest inning of the game in the fifth as they cut the deficit to six runs but the Sharks answered back with three runs in the sixth. Regoli and Petitbon each picked up hits to begin the frame and both scored off a single up the middle from Anthony Angulo (Jr., Homestead, Fla.). The Sharks would eventually load the bases before Asuaje earned an easy RBI on a 4-0 walk. Maggs would pick up one more RBI in the ninth with a double to right field, scoring Regoli.

Rollins would score five more runs over the last three innings to make the score more respectable. Six Sharks had multiple hit games in NSU’s opening outing while five had multiple RBI.

Tighe (3-4) pitched the best game of his career in the final game of the doubleheader. Tighe struck out a career-high 10 batters and held the Tars to four hits in his first complete-game shutout. All but one of his strikeouts were swinging K’s. Tighe finished the game without a walk, hit batter or wild pitch and was flawless through 3.1 innings pitched.

The Sharks worked starting pitcher Mike Howard to over 110 pitches over five innings pitched but were held to only four hits against him. However, the Sharks still managed to score four runs over the first four innings. Asuaje led off the game with a double to left centerfield and used his speed to score off a fly ball to centerfield from Penate and an error by the shortstop after the play. Regoli started off the fourth inning with a leadoff home run down the left field line. It was Regoli’s fifth home run of the year and ended a 15-game drought without a home run. Durden, who reached on a walk, would later score off an error before Blake Boyd (So., Jupiter, Fla.) plated Nikko Echevarria (Jr., Abqaib, Saudi Arabia) on a single through the middle.

Durden scored the final run of the day in the sixth inning after leading off the side with an infield single. Michael Hartley (Sr., Davie, Fla.) drove him home on a single to right centerfield, sealing NSU’s fourth straight win.

The Sharks will aim to complete the sweep of Rollins on Sunday, March 27 in Winter Park, Fla. at 1 p.m.