MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University baseball team (35-15, 18-6 SSC) swept their Mother's Day doubleheader against the Florida Tech Panthers (27-20, 9-12 SSC), winning by scores of 4-1 and 4-3. Alexander Kline earned the win in game one with Devin Raftery earning his 11^th save in relief. Devin Pellien earned the win in the series finale, tossing 4.1 innings in relief. The Sharks broke three program records on the day, two of which were individual records.
 
Program Records Broken
 
The first record that was broken on Sunday was the single-season team home run record. Kavan Thompson hit a solo home run in the fifth inning of the first game of the doubleheader to give the Sharks 74 home runs on the year, breaking the program record of 73 set by the 2009 ball club. The second record of the day that was broken was the strikeouts in relief record. Devin Raftery struck out 11 batters in relief in game one of the doubleheader. 11 of Raftery's 12 outs were strikeouts. The final record broken was the consecutive games reaching base, as Kevin Suarez singled to reach base for his 34^th straight game.
 
Game One – NSU 4, FIT 1
 
Kline got the start for the Sharks in game two of the series, tossing five innings of one-run baseball to earn his second win of the season. Kline was removed from the game with one no outs in the bottom of the sixth and Devin Raftery came in and put on a clinic, striking out 11 batters in four innings to earn his 11^th save of the year.
 
Offensively, the Sharks got on the board in the second inning, when Michael Hernandez singled to centerfield, scoring Brandon Gomez. NSU increased its lead to 2-0 in the fifth, when Melbourne native Kavan Thompson gave his mother one of the best Mother's Day gifts, a solo home run over the left field wall. NSU scored again in the fifth, as Kevin Suarez singled to left to score Dylan Woods.
 
NSU added one more run in the ninth, giving Devin Raftery a three-run cushion that he didn't really need. Kevin Suarez drove in his second run of the ballgame, giving the Sharks a 4-1 lead. Raftery struck out three batters in the ninth, ending the game and setting the table for a rubber match in game three of the series.
 
Game Two – NSU 4, FIT 3
 
The Sharks received another outstanding pitching performance from the combination of Julian Loret de Mola and Devin Pellien in the series finale. After tossing 4.2 innings and allowing three runs, Loret de Mola was pulled from the game in favor of Pellien and the junior flame-thrower crushed FIT's hopes of a series win, dominating the Panther hitters for 4.1 innings to record his third win of the year.
 
Brandon Gomez drove in the first two runs for the Sharks with an RBI-groundout in the third inning to score Suarez and a RBI-double in the fifth inning, scoring Jancarlos Cintron. FIT tied the game at 2-2 in the third and eventually took the lead in the fifth, scoring one run with two outs against Loret de Mola to chase him out of the ballgame.
 
Down by one run with a Shark on third base in the top of the sixth, FIT brought the infield in with Michael Hernandez at the plate. Hernandez sent the first pitch he saw over the left field wall, in what proved to be the game-winning home run.
 
The Panthers threatened to tie and possibly win the ballgame in the bottom of the ninth after loaded the bases with two outs, but Pellien rolled a groundball to Dylan Woods at shortstop who flipped to Cintron at second for the final out of the ballgame.
 
The Sharks will now wait a week until Sunday, May 15^th, to find out their postseason fate. The Sharks are a favorite to be a two or three seed in the NCAA South Region tournament, which will likely be held in Tampa, Fla. Keep in locked on nsusharks.com to find out more information as it is released.