Box Score
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The No. 15 Nova Southeastern baseball team (19-6), dropped an 8-7 contest, in walk-off fashion, in 11 innings to the St. Thomas Bobcats Tuesday night, after leading 7-0 after three.
With one out in the bottom of the 11th and runners on the corners for the home side, senior Oscar Aguirre hit a sacrifice fly to center, just deep enough to score the runner from third and end the game after four hours and 14 minutes of play.
Brooks Fleming (Sr., Palm City, Fla.) led the way offensively for the Sharks, finishing with a 3-for-4, two RBI, performance. Fleming was also walked on two occasions.
Drew Packard (Sr., Knoxville, Tennessee) absorbs the tough loss for NSU. Packard (0-1) pitched 0.2 innings and allowed just the one unearned run to finish the game.
The Sharks continued their recent trend of scoring early, when in the first, Fleming scored
Alvin Swoope (Fr., Port St. Lucie, Fla.) from second on a base knock.
In the third, Swoope tallied his second run of the game, this time from first, on a throwing error off an
Andres Visbal (Fr., Miami) bunt. The third basemen chucked one over the first baseman's head allowing Visbal to reach third. A Fleming double in the next at-bat gave the Sharks the 3-0.
Mario Urdaneta (Jr., Ocala, Fla.), the next batter in the order, took the Bobcats starter out of the game, hitting a RBI single and moving to second after a play at the plate. A balk by the reliever moved Urdaneta to third right before
Yandy Viera (Jr., Hialeah, Fla.) scored him on a base knock, making the score 5-0.
The Sharks didn't stop at five, when later in the inning Andrew Liberty (Fr., Boca Raton, Fla.) scored from third on a wild pitch. NSU would score their final run of the inning and game on Swoope's single, scoring
Ryan Woodrey (Jr., Lighthouse Point, Fla.), who recorded his first double of the year, from third.
Despite the big deficit, the Bobcats began to chip away inning by inning, scoring four in the fifth, another in the sixth, and then tied the game up with two more in the seventh.
Josh Glick (So., Boca Raton, Fla.) started the bottom of the ninth in a 7-7 ballgame. Glick managed to get himself out of a tight situation, after the Bobcats put runners on second and third, with two outs. Glick showed his usual poise on the mound, as he struck out the final at-bat of the inning to send it to extras.
Seth Natal (Jr., Oakland Park, Fla.) started the game hot, pitching four shutout innings on the mound for NSU. Natal finished the game after 4.1 innings of work, allowing four runs, all coming in the fifth, on nine hits.
Ronald Patella (So., Davie, Fla.) had a solid 1.1 innings in relief, not allowing a run on two hits.
Swoope picked up his team-high 10th multi-hit game of the season going 2-for-4 at the plate.
The winning pitcher, Eric Santamaria (1-0), who entered the game with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth and two outs, ended the inning by popping up the final at-bat to keep the game tied. Santamaria pitched 2.1 innings and did not give up a hit.
The Bobcats out hit the Sharks in Tuesday's contest 16-12.
The Sharks will return to conference play for a huge SSC showdown at home against St. Leo, beginning Friday evening at 6 p.m.
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