Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. –
Mario Urdaneta (Jr., Ocala, Fla.) was able to send NSU's four seniors out on top, with a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh, for a 2-1 win in the final game of the Sharks' 2014 season. NSU preceded that dramatic finale, with a 13-6 win in game one of Saturday's doubleheader.
Senior's
Drew Packard (Knoxville, Tenn.),
Brooks Fleming (Palm City, Fla.),
Mitchel Buerosse (Lighthouse Point, Fla.) and
Geoff Jimenez (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) were all honored as part of a senior day ceremony in between games one and two.
Urdaneta's sacrifice fly, with the bases loaded in the night cap, brought in pinch runner
Teft Hill (Fr., Fort Myers, Fla.) from third, to lift the Sharks past the Tars, and allow the seniors to celebrate one last time.
Buerosse ended his career with a bang, allowing just one hit and one walk, in five innings as the team's starter in the second game. The senior retired the first 11 batters of the game, and didn't allow a hit until the leadoff man in the sixth singled to center. Buerosse finished the game with five strikeouts and allowed one earned run. Buerosse finished the season second on the team with 44 strikeouts in 46 innings of work.
Packard took Buerosse's spot on the mound in the sixth, and pitched one full inning during his final outing at the NSU Baseball Complex. Packard allowed just one hit, coming on a RBI single from Peter Nicoletto in the sixth. Packard finished the season, with 13 appearances and a 1.84 ERA, the lowest of any reliever on the team.
Three hits was all it took in the season finale for NSU. After three scoreless innings,
Alexander Fernandez (Jr., Davie, Fla.) broke up the tie ball game, after his hustle to first base forced a three-bag throwing error by second baseman Yuta Okazaki. The costly two-out error scored freshman
Andres Visbal (Miami) from second base.
The losing pitcher in the finale, Jack Murray, went six and one third, struck out eight and allowed two runs, one of which was earned.
Jimenez put his name in the Sharks record books on Saturday, recording his 33rd stolen base of the season in the early game, putting him tied for 5th all-time in NSU baseball history. Jimenez also tacked on a RBI in the first game, putting his total to 16 on the season. In his final at-bat of his NSU career, Jimenez was intentionally walked, giving his a team-high 29 free bases on the year.
Fleming, in the doubleheader, went a combined 2-for-7, with two doubles, and recorded his team-high 39th RBI in 2014. Fleming's two doubles put him at 14 on the year, second most on for the Sharks this season.
The first game proved to be a back-and-forth exciting battle between the Sunshine State Conference foes. After both Rollins and NSU put up a run in the first frame, the Sharks took their first lead of the day, with a run in the third, followed by a four-run fourth inning, giving the Sharks a 5-1 lead.
The Tars were able to momentarily silence the Sharks bats and retake the lead, after the visitors from Winter Park, Florida scored two runs in the sixth and busted out for three more runs in the eighth. NSU was down to their final six outs, trailing 6-5.
Three outs was all the Sharks needed, when an explosion of eight runs came in the home half of the eighth, to put the final score line at 13-6. The NSU lineup went around once, plus three more, in an eight-hit inning.
Ronald Patella (So., Davie, Fla.) closed the door on the Tars, going three up, three down in the ninth. Patella (3-1) didn't allow a single hit in 1.1 innings on the bump for the Sharks.
Adam Ogburn suffered the loss in the first game, after being unable to record an out and allowing four runs in his short stint on the mound.
The doubleheader sweep concludes the NSU Sharks baseball team's 2014 regular season schedule.
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