Box Score
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 15 Nova Southeastern baseball team (20-6, 6-4 SSC), topped the visiting Saint Leo Lions at the NSU Baseball Complex Friday night, 5-3, behind
Roberto Baroniel's first career nine-inning complete game.
Tonight's game was the first Shark Night of the season and it kicked off with Make-A-Wish Celebrity, Mathew, throwing out the first pitch.
Baroniel (5-1) went the distance against the Lions, allowing three earned on just seven hits, while striking out two. Baroniel (Jr., Miami) forced SLU into 16 fly outs and nine groundouts in his strong performance on the mound Friday night.
Mario Urdaneta (Jr., Ocala, Fla.) bothered the Saint Leo pitching staff all night, going 3-for-4 from the dish and knocking in his 16th RBI of the season.
This was the first win for the Sharks over the Lions since April 7, 2012, after SLU swept NSU a season ago.
After the Lions tied the game for the second time in the top of the sixth, the Sharks put the game away, scoring the final two runs of the game in the bottom half of sixth.
Alexander Fernandez (Jr., Davie, Fla.) (2-for-4) led off the inning, with a big double down the left field line, as the ball rolled all the way out to the fence in left.
Ryan Woodrey (Jr., Lighthouse Point, Fla.) (1-for-2) backed up the double, with a single up the middle to put runners on the corners for
Kavan Thompson (So., Melbourne, Fla.). Thompson (1-for-4) took advantage of the situation and tallied his sixth RBI of the year on a groundout to second to allow Fernandez to score easily. Later in the sixth, after a pitching change,
Andres Visbal (Fr., Miami) (1-for-5) scored Woodrey from third on a fielder's choice, giving the Sharks the 5-3 lead.
The Sharks, as they have been so consistent of doing as of late, scored early, this time in the first, when Brooks Fleming (Sr., Palm City, Fla.) (2-for-5) crushed a ball to deep right center to allow Alvin Swoope (Fr., Port St. Lucie, Fla.) (2-for-4) to score all the way from first. The Sharks brought another run across as Urdaneta hit a double of his own, during the next at-bat, to bring home Fleming and give the Sharks a 2-0 lead.
The Lions bounced back, tying the ballgame in the third. SLU hit a solo homer to lead off the inning, before a two-out single through the left side scored the runner from second and knotted the game at two.
The even score line was short lived, when in the home half of the third,
Yandy Viera (Jr., Hialeah, Fla.) (0-for-3) put the Sharks back in front on a sacrifice fly to center, to score Fleming from third for his second run of the game for a NSU 3-2 advantage.
The Sharks 13 hits against SLU matches a conference high, when they hit 13 in their 10-9 win over Barry last weekend.
The Lions starting pitcher Michael Dunnigan (4-2) took the loss in Friday's game, after going 5.1 innings, allowing five earned on 11 Sharks hits. The reliever Ethan Lichtenberg, did a good job in his 2.2 innings of slowing down NSU, allowing just two hits to the Sharks.
These teams will conclude their series tomorrow at the NSU Baseball Complex, with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
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