GAME ONE BOX | GAME TWO BOX
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 12 Nova Southeastern baseball team (31-9, 11-6 SSC) won a weekend series against the No. 7 Lynn Fighting Knights (31-13, 13-6 SSC) by splitting a doubleheader Saturday at the NSU Baseball Complex. The Sharks dropped the first game, 5-0, before rallying to win the final game of the weekend, 6-3.
GAME ONE
The Fighting Knights split the weekend series against the Sharks in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, winning, 5-0.
The Sharks were held scoreless for the second time in 39 games, falling victim to a complete game from Lynn’s Ryan Gibbard. Gibbard held the Sharks to five hits while striking out nine batters.
Cody Stiles (Jr., Coral Springs, Fla.) (5-2) took his second loss of the season, despite holding the Knights to five hits and three earned runs over 6.1 innings.
Carlos Asuaje (So., Weston, Fla.) was the top Shark offensively, going 2-for-4 in the game.
Javi Sujo (Sr., Miami, Fla.),
Brett Clements (Jr., Riverview, Fla.) and
Ray Navarro (Sr., Miami, Fla.) also recorded a hit in the contest. All five of the Sharks’ hits were singles, as the Sharks only reached scoring position three times in the contest.
GAME TWO
The Sharks won the series with a game-three victory Saturday, defeating the Knights in a seven-inning contest, 6-3.
Vinnie Contaldi (Jr., Jupiter, Fla.) (5-1) started his first game in Sunshine State Conference play and earned the victory. He pitched six innings and held the Knights to one earned run on five hits. He struck out four batters and kept the ball on the ground, holding an 11/4 groundout/flyball ratio. Contaldi’s ERA was lowered to 2.67 for the season.
The Sharks scored all of their runs on two home runs by
Alex Marrero (Jr., Miami, Fla.) and Asuaje. Asuaje finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs and a RBI while Marrero went 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run.
The first home run was hit by Marrero in the second inning for the outfielder’s sixth homer of the season. Sujo started off the side by drawing a full-count walk. On a 2-2 count, Marrero blasted his team’s first home run of the weekend over the centerfield wall, bringing the score to 2-0.
Lynn cut the Shark’s lead in half with a run in the top of the third. The Sharks immediately brought their advantage back to two runs on a solo shot from Asuaje. The second baseman led off the side and, after taking ball one, sent a no-doubter over the right field fence. It was Asuaje’s fifth home run of the season.
The Sharks went out to put insurance runs on the board in the sixth inning and doubled their score.
Eric Acevedo (Jr., Miami, Fla.) started the rally in a pinch-hit at bat, picking up a single through the right side. On the base paths, Acevedo took advantage of several mistakes, advancing home from first on a wild pitch and two separate errors. Later on with
Blake Boyd (Jr., Jupiter, Fla.,) and Asuaje on base, Clements, who hit in the two-hole for the first time this season, recorded his first triple to drive in the Sharks’ final runs.
The Knights scored two runs in the seventh inning, but
Sean Tighe (Sr., Hobe Sound, Fla.) closed out the game to seal the series victory.
After taking down the top team in the SSC standings, the Sharks will hit the road for a weekend series against the South Region’s top-ranked team in No. 2 Tampa, beginning Friday at 6 p.m.
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