OPA LOCKA, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University baseball team (22-11, 11-4 SSC) made quick work of the St. Thomas University Bobcats (25-14) on Tuesday night, defeated the 2015 NAIA national runner-ups by a score of 5-2.
Jonny Ortiz earned his fourth win, tossing six innings and allowing two runs (one earned).
St. Thomas scored their first run of the game in the top of the first inning after the Sharks were unable to capitalize on a potential inning ending double play, when
Dylan Woods couldn't get a grip on the baseball to throw to first after Ortiz forced a ground ball back to himself. St. Thomas' next hitter tripled, scoring the runner from first. Woods would make up for the rare mistake in the top of the second inning, as he drove home
Brandon Gomez with a two-out single up the middle.
With the score 1-1, the Sharks were ready to jump out in front and they did so in the top of the third inning.
Dallas Perez and Jancarlos Cintron led the inning off with singles, followed by
Sebastian Diaz reaching on an error by the Bobcats' third baseman. With the bases loaded,
Daniel Zardon smacked a double down the right field line, scoring Perez and Cintron. Gomez then sent a towering sacrifice fly to left field, driving home Diaz and giving the Sharks a 4-1 lead.
The story from then on out was the Sharks' ability to throw zeros on the scoreboard, as
Jonny Ortiz,
Devin Pellien and
Devin Raftery combined to allow three hits from the fourth inning on, two of which came in the eighth inning. The Bobcats scored one run in the bottom of the fifth but Zardon matched that with an absolute laser of a home run to left field in the eighth. Raftery shut the door in the ninth, earning his sixth save of the year and dropping his ERA 1.50.
The Sharks will look to ride their momentum into the weekend when they travel to Palm Beach Atlantic for a three-game set. NSU has won 11 of its last 12 games and is playing as good of baseball as any team in the country right now.
Tweets of the Night
