BOX SCORE
BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern baseball team had its six-game winning streak snapped as the Lynn Fighting Knights won with a walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth on Friday evening, 4-3.
The Sharks (24-14, 6-7 SSC) had taken a 3-0 lead and starting pitcher
Vinnie Contaldi (Sr., Jupiter, Fla.) was cruising, having given up only one hit in the first five innings. But the Fighting Knights (27-15, 10-6 SSC) had their first three batters reach on hits in the sixth and scored two in the inning to cut the deficit to one at 3-2.
Reliever
Josh Glick (Fr., Boca Raton, Fla.) came in, and was able to get out of a jam to strand runners in the seventh, but couldn’t do the same in the eighth as Lynn knotted up the score. With two outs, Cory Elasik reached on a bunt single, catching the Shark defense off-guard. He was plated on a double to the fence in left-center by Paul Stortini to make it a 3-3 game.
Alexander Kline (Fr., Coral Springs, Fla.) came in and retired the last batter of the eighth, but was unable to retire a batter in the last frame, giving up a leadoff double and a sacrifice attempt that turned into an infield single. He was relieved by
Mike Gonzalez (Sr., Miami), whose first pitch was hit right back up the box by Alex Freedman, and though Gonzalez reached with his bare hand, neither he nor the diving
Carlos Asuaje (Jr., Weston, Fla.) could come up with it, and Lynn took the game, 4-3.
Kline (1-1) was charged with the loss. Contaldi took a tough-luck no-decision despite only giving up four hits and two runs in six innings of work.
The Sharks got their first two runs in the second inning.
Kevin Reynolds (Jr., Fort Myers, Fla.) led off with a single to center, and advanced as
Alex Marrero (Sr., Miami) was hit by a pitch.
Brandon Sedell (So., Davie, Fla.) successfully moved each runner up with a sacrifice bunt, and the first run came in on an RBI groundout by
William Rudolph (Jr., Parkland, Fla.). It became a 2-0 lead when
Brett Clements (Sr., Riverview, Fla.) lined a two-out single to right-center to score Marrero.
After being shut out in the next three innings, NSU scored again in the sixth.
Jose Rodriguez (Sr., Hialeah, Fla.) singled with one out and moved all the way to third on a double to the right-centerfield gap by Reynolds. Marrero collected a run batted in with a single up the middle and make it 3-0, but Lynn starter Joe Perrotta retired the next two Shark batters to keep it at that three-run deficit, and the Fighting Knights started their comeback in the bottom of the inning.
Asuaje, Reynolds and Clements each had two hits on the day, among the nine Shark baseknocks. The Fighting Knights had seven hits in the last two innings after only notching four against Contaldi in the first six.
The two teams meet up again in Boca Raton for a Saturday doubleheader, scheduled to begin at
11 a.m. This is a one-hour bump from the original scheduling of noon.
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