Box Score FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 4 Nova Southeastern baseball team (14-3, 2-2 SSC) dropped the opening game of their series with Eckerd (9-4, 1-0 SSC), 3-2, at the NSU Baseball Complex Friday night.
Sharks pitcher
Roberto Baroniel (Jr., Miami) (4-1) picked up his first loss of the season, but not before striking out eight Triton batters over seven innings of work. Baroniel allowed three earned on five hits, four of which came in the third.
Ronald Patella (So., Davie, Fla.) pitched two solid innings in relief for NSU, not allowing a hit, while striking out two.
The winning pitcher, Richard Cruz-Sanchez (1-1), struck out seven Shark hitters in seven innings on the mound. Cruz-Sanchez allowed two runs, one earned, on four NSU hits.
After Baroniel sat down the first six batters he faced, the Tritons broke through in the third by scoring three runs. Baroniel was able to get himself out of a bases-loaded jam, by striking out Shane Bishop to end the inning.
The Sharks were silenced until the fourth, when
Andres Visbal (Fr., Miami) hit a towering solo home run over the right field fence to cut the lead to 3-1. The home run is Visbal's second of his freshman campaign.
Baroniel posted two more three-up, three-down innings in the fifth and sixth.
The Sharks broke through again in the home half of the eighth, cutting the lead to one. Pinch hitter
Ryan Woodrey (Jr., Lighthouse Point, Fla.) and centerfielder
Geoff Jimenez (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) were walked with no outs to start off the eighth.
Alvin Swoope (Fr., Port St. Luce, Fla.), the next batter in the order, hit a liner back to the pitcher, who attempted to throw out the then pinch runner Kavan Thompson (So., Melbourne, Fla.) at third. The throw was off target, scoring Thompson, moving Jimenez to third and Swoope reaching second on the error.
The Sharks were in prime position to add on to the score column with no outs and both runners in scoring position. However, Taylor Owens (2), the Tritons reliever who came in immediately following the error, retired the next three NSU batters to hold on to the 3-2 lead.
Alexander Fernandez (Jr., Davie, Fla.) reached second in the bottom of the ninth, after singling down the third base line and stealing second, giving the Sharks one last hope. Owens, however, did not let him advance any further, recording a strikeout for the final out of the ballgame.
Both teams recorded five hits on the day, however, the Sharks recorded four errors to the Tritons two.
These two teams will meet up again tomorrow for a doubleheader, at the NSU Baseball Complex, to finish off their conference series. The first pitched is slated for 1 p.m.
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