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Box Score 2 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 4 Nova Southeastern baseball team (15-4, 3-3 SSC) split Saturday's doubleheader against the Eckerd Tritons (10-5, 2-1 SSC), Saturday afternoon at the NSU Baseball Complex. The Sharks took the early game, beating the Tritons 3-1, before the score flipped in the second and Eckerd bested NSU, 3-1. The split gave the Tritons the series win, the first time they've done that against the Sharks since 2000.
Pitching was the story in both games of Saturday's doubleheader.
Julian Loret de Mola (Jr., Miami) picked up his fourth win of the year in game one, going seven innings on the mound, allowing just one run on six hits, while striking out seven.
Ronald Patella (So., Davie, Fla.) picked up his fourth save of the season, allowing just one hit in two innings in relief.
Game two was led by Tritons pitcher Jimmy Gutowski (5-0). Gutowski went the complete seven, allowing just one run, unearned, while striking out seven.
"Our pitchers have continued to throw well and make pitches," said head coach
Greg Brown. "We have won a lot of close games thus far and this weekend we lacked the big hit. We have a resilient club and we will bounce back, with getting back to preparation and our process."
The Sharks put themselves on the right side of the score column early in game number one. NSU put up a run in the first on
Brooks Fleming's (Jr., Palm City, Fla.) RBI groundout to second. The play scored
Geoff Jimenez (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) who was standing at third.
The Sharks were able to widen the lead, after scoring another run in the home half of the third.
Andres Visbal (Fr., Miami) started off the inning by drawing a walk. He then recorded his third steal of the season during the Fleming at bat. Visbal then advanced to third, after a passed ball by the catcher.
Mario Urdaneta (Jr., Ocala, Fla.) scored Visbal on a single, which found its way between the first and second basemen.
Yandy Viera (Jr., Hialeah, Fla.) opened up the Sharks lead to three, after his groundout to short brought Visbal home from third for his second run of the game.
The Tritons were able to finally break through, scoring in the eighth on a sacrifice fly to right field. Eckerd was robbed of at least one more run, when, with runners on the corners, the Tritons' catcher James Petika hit a sharp line drive that appeared to be making its way into right, to score the runner at third. However, third baseman
Kavan Thompson (So., Melbourne, Fla.), made an amazing diving grab out of the air, going to his left, to keep the NSU lead at 3-1, heading into the home half of the eighth.
Patella finished off the Tritons, going three-up and three-down in the ninth.
The losing pitcher, Zach Hoppe (1-2), pitched three innings for the visitors, allowing two runs, one of which was earned, on three hits.
Each team finished the game with seven hits apiece.
Game two had a similar start, as the Sharks were yet again the first to score, this time in the second inning. Alex Fernandez (Jr., Davie, Fla.) recorded NSU's lone RBI of the game on a groundout to the third baseman, scoring Urdaneta from third. Earlier in the Fernandez at bat, Urdaneta advanced to third all the way from first, after Gutowski threw the ball away trying to pick off Urdaneta at first.
The Tritons were able to get their first lead of the afternoon, after Chris Hanson hit a two-run single to centerfield, giving the visitors a one-run lead.
Eckerd was knocking on the door for a big fourth inning, when they saw themselves in a two-out and bases loaded situation. Fernandez, who came in to relieve
Dillon Frye (Jr., Raleigh, N.C.), came up with a huge strikeout to get the Sharks out of the inning unscathed.
The Tritons picked up their final run of the game in the sixth. Rowdy Andrews hit a big two-out triple, followed by a single to right center, to put Eckerd up two.
The play of the series came in the top of the seventh, when Tritons batter Matt McMahon, crushed a line drive up the middle for a sure single. However, the freshman shortstop
Alvin Swoope (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) made an incredible leaping dive to his left for the first out of the inning. The runner at first was nearly at second, before he realized Swoope made the catch. The shortstop then had time to get up and throw the runner out at first for an inning-ending double play.
The Sharks drew a blank in the seventh, ending the game and the series.
Frye (1-1) pitched 3.2 innings in his first home start as a Shark. He struck out three and gave up one earned on six hits in game two.
The Tritons out hit the Sharks, 9-6, in the second game of the doubleheader.
The Sharks will play an out of conference game against American International at the NSU Baseball Complex on Monday, March 10, starting at 6 p.m., before traveling to Miami Gardens, Fla. for a three-game set against the Barry Buccaneers next weekend.
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