FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University baseball team (6-5) used a strong group effort on Saturday to propel them to a pair of 9-0 victories over the Tuskegee Golden Tigers (2-8).
Game 1 – NSU 9, Tuskegee 0 Much like in game one of the series, the Sharks started the scoring in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back, this time on a two-run rocket over the scoreboard in left centerfield off the bat of
Brandon Gomez, scoring JanCarlos Cintron ahead of him.
Michael Hernandez followed with a solo shot to left field in the second. The offense added another run in the third, when Gomez doubled to the right centerfield wall and scored on a Danny Zardon RBI groundout to short.
The Sharks broke the game open in the fifth inning, a rally started by a Cintron single up the middle and stolen base. Gomez notched his third hit of the day on a single up the middle that the Tuskegee second baseman fielded, but he was unable to make a play on it, and the bases were loaded when Zardon was hit by a pitch. A four-pitch walk to
Sebastian Diaz scored Cintron, and a double by Hernandez – his third hit of the day, as well – split the gap in right centerfield to score Gomez and Zardon.
Andres Visbal brought in the fourth run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to rightfield, bringing the Sharks' lead to 8-0.
Hernandez drove in his fourth run of the day in the seventh inning on another home run over the leftfield wall, finishing 4-for-4 on the day, with three extra-base hits.
Matt Hardy (2-0) earned his second win in as many starts this season, tossing six shutout innings and holding the Golden Tigers hitless through four.
Devin Pellien made his Sharks debut with four strikeouts in a pair of 1-2-3 innings, before
Kyle Kilbourne finished it off in the ninth.
Game 2 – NSU 9, Tuskegee 0 The Sharks waited until the second inning to take the lead in the series finale, but batted around to do so in a big way. Hernandez nearly hit his third homer of the day, but settled for a double to left centerfield. A Diaz single and Visbal hit by pitch loaded the bases for
Kavan Thompson, making his first start of the season, who drew a walk to score Hernandez. Diaz then scored on a wild pitch, followed by a walk of Cintron to load the bases once again. Another walk, this time to Gomez, scored Visbal, before Zardon singled through the hole between second and third to score Thompson and Cintron.
Visbal had another sac fly to score Diaz in the third inning. In the fourth, Gomez mashed his third long ball in as many days, into the netting above the leftfield fence. Two innings later,
Teft Hill, was at the plate for the first time this seasonand crushed the second offering he saw over the left centerfield fence. An
Antonio Rodriguez double and Thompson RBI single brought the game to its ultimately final score of 9-0.
Jonny Ortiz (1-0) made the start and struck out six Tuskegee hitters in five innings and was relieved by
Cameron Churchill and
Joe DiBenedetto, who each had two strikeouts in an inning of work.
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