ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – In contrast to the first meeting exactly one month ago between Nova Southeastern and Flagler, batters were retired much more frequently in Wednesday's matchup between both schools. Nonetheless, the result remained the same as the Sharks leaned on three home runs and a strong effort out of the bullpen by
Derik Beauprez to pick up a notable 6-4 road victory over the Saints.
Nova Southeastern edged Flagler 19-16 in a marathon ball game back on February 21, needing five runs in the eighth inning to earn the comeback win. This time around, however, no comeback was needed thanks to Beauprez's dominant performance before catcher
Jake Anchia provided some welcomed insurance with his sixth homer of the season in the ninth inning.
Beauprez replaced starting pitcher
Jonny Ortiz with the contest knotted at 4-4 in the sixth. From there, all the right-hander did was toss three perfect innings while reeling off eight strikeouts. Beauprez fanned the first six batters he faced until a routine groundout to shortstop
Dylan Woods ended the impressive streak. The junior would respond right back with two more punch-outs, though, putting himself in line to collect his first career 'W' at Nova Southeastern.
Following a two-run second inning to open the scoring, Woods furthered Nova Southeastern's lead in the top of the third with a solo shot the opposite field off Saints' pitcher Ryan Ashworth. After an unearned run trimmed the margin to 3-1 in the bottom of the frame,
Andrew Liberty stretched the cushion back to three runs with a no-doubt solo blast of his own in the top of the fifth.
Ortiz would retire the first two batters in the bottom of the fifth, but ran into a bit of trouble by issuing a walk and a hit-by-pitch to the ensuing Saints' hitters. The miscues would leave the door open for Flagler's Jason Moore, who took advantage of the opportunity with a three-run homer to even up the ball game at 4-4.
With the help of Beauprez, the Sharks reestablished some momentum in the sixth before the offense fed off the energy in the top half of the seventh. A two-out double off the bat of
Sebastian Diaz sparked a rally for head coach
Greg Brown's club when
Jancarlos Cintron stepped to the dish and delivered the clutch, go-ahead RBI-single to help Nova Southeastern reclaim a 5-4 edge.
Anchia opened the ninth with the Sharks' third solo homer of the evening, making matters much less pressure-packed for closer
Josh Glick, who picked up his third save of the season to help NSU snap its previous four-game losing skid.
Brendan Cutting and
Brandon Gomez paced the Sharks' offensive attack with two hits apiece in the effort.
NSU will continue its week away from home on Friday when it opens a three-game set against Sunshine State Conference counterpart Saint Leo. For complete coverage Tuesday's action, log onto
NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_Baseball.
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