Box Score FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Nova Southeastern University's baseball team (4-0) earned their fourth win of the year Friday, defeating the visiting Delta State Statesmen (0-1) by a score of 10-3. The game was called in the bottom of the eighth inning due to rain.
Roberto Baroniel (Sr., Miami, Fla.) set the tone for the Sharks, surrendering just two runs over seven innings of work. Baroniel struck out eight batters, the most he's had since March 7, 2014 when he fanned eight Eckerd Tritons. Baroniel was backed by the Sharks' offense, who scored ten runs on seven hits, highlighted by a grand-slam from
Nick McNeil (Jr., Clearwater, Fla.).
Roche Woodard (Sr., Tampa, Fla.) led the team in hits, lacing two baseballs for singles.
Dylan Woods (So., New Symrna Beach, Fla.) added two RBI to his team leading six RBI. Woodard,
Mario Urdaneta (Sr., Ocala, Fla.),
Antonio Rodriguez (Jr., Coral Gables, Fla.) and
Casey Gibson (Fort Myers, Fla.) tallied one RBI each.
The Sharks got on the board first after Woods drove a ball through the left side, scoring Rodriguez, who doubled off of the center field wall in the bottom of the third inning. Woodard later drove in Woods, smoking a ball over the left fielder's head for a double. Urdaneta would wrap up the third inning with a single up the middle, scoring Woodard.
The Sharks would gain their fourth run of the night in the bottom of the fourth inning on one of the rarest plays in the game of baseball. Rodriguez crushed a ball to centerfield, where the center fielder eventually camped underneath the ball and caught it at the warning track.
Andres Visbal (So., Miami, Fla.) then tagged up at second base, heading for third base. Head coach Greg Brown waved Visbal home and Visbal scored, completing the sacrifice fly, scoring from second base.
After Delta State got on the board in the fifth, pushing one run across on a RBI single through the left side, NSU would get two more runs on a Gibson hit-by-pitch and a Woods walk in the bottom of the sixth. The sixth inning was capped of by McNeil's no-doubter of a grand-slam. Delta State tacked on one more run in the seventh and eighth innings, but it proved not to be enough as the Sharks would take the opening game of the series.
The Sharks will return to action Saturday afternoon, playing a doubleheader against the Statesmen, beginning at 1 p.m. NSUSharks.com will be provided a live stats and video for both games.
