SAINT LEO, Fla. – Relying on its defense in game one before turning things over to the offense in game two of the afternoon doubleheader, No. 21 Nova Southeastern overpowered Saint Leo with 5-2 and 16-5 victories en route to a Sunshine State Conference road sweep on Saturday.
Starting pitcher Devin Meyer surrendered just a pair of unearned runs in a season-high eight innings in the day's first ball game. The redshirt-sophomore was one-upped in the weekend finale, though, after Andrew Liberty hit for the program's first cycle since 2004 with a perfect 5-for-5 effort as the Sharks now climb to 20-10 overall and 8-4 in the SSC.
"It was pretty cool," said Liberty when asked about accomplishing the rare feat. "I've never done that before so it was a pretty special moment.
"It was good to see us string a bunch of hits together as a whole today. We were able to come together and manufacture quite a bit of runs – definitely a big day for us to come away with the sweep."
Game One
In contrast to Friday's series opener, game one on Saturday belonged to the aforementioned Meyer and the Nova Southeastern defense.
However, it was slugger Brandon Gomez that set the tone for the afternoon right away in the top of the first inning. Following back-to-back singles by Jancarlos Cintron and Dylan Woods to lead off the ball game, Gomez blasted a three-run bomb to straight-away center field to stake the Sharks to an instant 3-0 cushion.
Saint Leo would respond with a run of its own in the home half of the first, but Meyer would soon settle in and began to cruise as the day wore on. A much-needed 6-4-3 double play erased the Lions' threat in the opening frame, the first of three key turns by the Sharks' middle infield in the contest.
The third double play would thwart the Lions' chances again in the fourth, and would spark Meyer into a run in which he set down 10 straight batters at one point.
Saint Leo ended a stretch of six scoreless innings in a row in the bottom of the eighth, but the offensive production proved to show up a bit too late as closer Josh Glick eventually recorded the final three outs in the ninth to nail down his fourth save of the year.
Game Two
Already with the series win in the bag, Nova Southeastern kept its foot on the gas from the get-go in the series capper.
Similar game one of the doubleheader, the Sharks pushed three runs across in the top of the first, only this time it was Jake Anchia supplying the three-run shot that collided with the top of the scoreboard in left center.
Still in front 7-3 in the sixth, Gomez sucked any air left in Southard Stadium right out with his second three-run dinger of the day to push the Sharks' lead back out to 10-3 following a mini-surge by the Lions.
Sebastian Diaz would plate to more in the seventh following a double laced down the left field line before Liberty connected on his sixth homer of the year an inning later to add to the onslaught.
While the game had all but been decided, Liberty's chance at the rare cycle still hung in the balance as the right fielder entered the ninth inning just a triple away from penciling his name into the NSU record books. With two away in the inning, though, the redshirt-junior capitalized on the opportunity and roped the Robbie Cook offering into deep right center past the outstretched arms of the Saint Leo centerfielder. Hustling from the crack of the bat, Liberty wasn't slowing and slid into third well ahead of the throw, becoming the first NSU player to hit for the cycle since Sean McFadden did so against Mars Hill 13 years ago.
NSU will return home, where it'll meet familiar foe Barry for the start of another three-game set on Friday at 6 p.m. ET. For complete coverage, log onto NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_Baseball.
