CLEVELAND, Miss. – Nova Southeastern brought the potential tying run to the plate with no outs in the top of the ninth, but three straight strikeouts against Delta State closer Zach Osbon thwarted the rally as the Sharks fell 4-1 in Saturday night's NCAA South Region battle.
Sebastian Diaz led off the ball game with a single into center field, and Jake Anchia later recorded the Sharks' lone RBI on a triple in the seventh. However, the Nova Southeastern offense struggled to muster much momentum otherwise versus Statesmen starter Tre Hobbs.
Hobbs surrendered just four hits in eight innings, while striking out six and walking only one.
"It was a really great performance by their guy (Hobbs) on the mound," said head coach Greg Brown. "Tonight, we got to a lot of barrels early, but he made a great adjustment and settled in. He got a lot of confidence from the guys behind him. It's a tough loss, but I'll say this, we put ourselves in a position to tie the game late. I was proud of the effort."
Although, Hobbs was credited with the victory, Nova Southeastern right-hander Devin Meyer put forth a sound effort as well. The redshirt-sophomore struck out six in seven innings of work, and yielded just one run outside of a rocky fifth.
"I think Meyer gave us an unbelievable performance, the one we needed to stabilize and stay in this tournament," said Brown. "We just have to activate and get after it tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing us rebound."
The Sharks came out dialed in at the plate, yet each and every liner found the leather of a Statesmen fielder. Still scoreless through 2.5 innings of play, Delta State broke through when NCBWA South Region Player of the Year Zach Shannon connected on a one-out single up the middle. The Statesmen threatened to tack on, but Meyer induced a timely 6-4-3 double play to escape the jam.
The same one-run margin remained until three consecutive hits to open the fifth put Delta State in front 2-0. Two batters later, the Statesmen added another run on a wild pitch before a single into left put the Sharks in a 4-0 hole.
A one-out base hit in the top of the seventh inning by Kevin Suarez snapped a streak of 19 straight batters set down by Hobbs. The knock left the door open for Anchia, who nearly roped a two-run homer over the wall in center. Instead, he was forced to settle for a run-scoring triple after the Delta State center fielder brought the ball back into the field of play.
With the shutout gone, Nova Southeastern looked to ignite a comeback when Dylan Woods and Suarez reach to open the ninth. The late-inning hopes fizzled out, though, as Osbon impressively sat down the heart of the Sharks' lineup to secure the victory for the home team.
NSU will look to remain alive when it faces off against the winner of Tampa/West Alabama on Sunday at 6:00 pm. ET/5:00 CT. For complete coverage, log onto NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_Baseball. For more tournament information, click here.
