MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University baseball team (33-15, 16-6 SSC) dropped game one of its three-game series against the Florida Tech Panthers (27-18, 9-10 SSC) by a score of 5-1. Alex Mateo took the loss to drop his record to 7-4, his first loss in seven straight starts.
 
The Sharks were unable to get anything going at the plate Saturday afternoon, tying their season-high with 14 strikeouts as a team. The Sharks had a total of four runners in scoring position throughout the game, converting on just one of their chances when Jancarlos Cintron drove home Kavan Thompson who doubled to lead off the third inning. Thompson nearly gave the Sharks a three-run lead in the fourth inning, smashing a ball to deep left field, but unfortunately the strong breeze from the northeast kept the ball in the yard and ended the inning.
 
On the mound, struck out five hitters across six innings of work. Unfortunately for Mateo and the Sharks, the Panthers used a throwing error from Michael Hernandez to score their second run in the fifth inning, and two more runs in the sixth on RBI singles. Steve Fleming allowed one run in the seventh before Ronald Patella kept the Florida Tech offense in check for the remainder of the game.
 
The Sharks were unable to string together a few hits late in the ballgame, as they dropped game one of the series to the Panthers 5-1. Games two and three will begin Sunday at noon.