BOX SCORE

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Despite erasing a nine-run deficit, the Nova Southeastern baseball team (23-13) dropped the highest scoring game of the season on Tuesday in Melbourne, Fla. against the Florida Tech Panthers (24-13), 17-15.

Andrew Durden (Sr., Port St. Lucie, Fla.) had a solid game, going 3-for-6 with three RBI and two runs scored. He also hit his 11th home run of the season in the seventh inning that erased what was a nine-run deficit. Dusty Maggs (Sr., Satellite Beach, Fla.) also had a solid outing by going 3-for-5 scoring three runs.

The Sharks put together a steady offensive attack in the first two innings and picked up a couple of runs. Carlos Asuaje (Fr., Weston, Fla.) led-off with a single up the middle and advanced to second on groundout by Luis Penate (Sr., Miami, Fla.). Durden recorded the first RBI of the game on a single to right field. Maggs kicked off the second with a double off the centerfield fence. After advancing a base on a groundout by Anthony Angulo (Jr., Homestead, Fla.), Maggs would score his team’s second run on a wild pitch.

Florida Tech took over the game after that as they scored a total of 10 runs over the second and third inning on 11 hits, including a three-run homer in the second.

Penate earned a leadoff double in the third but was stranded on just 60-feet from home plate. The Sharks were able to double their score in the fourth as Maggs picked up another leadoff hit, a single to left field. After Angulo drew a walk, both Blake Boyd (So., Jupiter, Fla.) and Nikko Echevarria (Sr., Abqaib, Saudi Arabia) hit RBI singles to cut the deficit to six runs.

The Panthers had another big inning in the fourth as they scored three runs to take a nine-run lead, their biggest of the game. The Sharks took a huge chunk out of that lead by scoring six runs in the fifth. The inning was a complete team effort as every player in the lineup contributed to the rally. Every player who stepped up to the plate in the fifth either earned a hit, scored a run or recorded a sacrifice hit. Asuaje, Penate, Daniel Petitbon (Jr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Boyd all picked up a RBI in the fifth.

The Sharks posted another run on the board in the sixth as Matt Seese (Sr., Ocala, Fla.) recorded his first triple of the season. Angulo plated Seese with his first hit of the game, a double to right center. In the seventh, Durden hit a two-run homer over the left field wall. The home run scored Penate, who reached on a single up the middle to even that game at 13-13.

FIT retook the lead with two runs in the bottom of the seventh. The Sharks answered back in the eighth as Maggs and Angulo reached base on an error and a walk, respectively. Sharad Johnson (Sr., Nassau, Bahamas) and Alan Avila (Jr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) entered the game as pinch runners before Johnson scored on Echevarria’s sacrifice fly. With two outs, Avila tied the game by scoring on a wild pitch.

The Panthers would score their final two runs in the 8th inning to take a 17-15 lead. FIT’s ace Jonathan Cornelius entered in the ninth to strike out the side and pick up a rare save.

The Sharks return to Sunshine State Conference play this Friday, April 15 in St. Leo, Fla. to face Saint Leo at 6 p.m.