TAMPA, Fla. (May 20, 2023) – An erratic first inning from the Rollins pitching staff put them in an early hole that they could not escape as the Tars fell to the Tampa Spartans by a score of x-x on Saturday night. Rollins now stands at 36-17 on the year.
The start of the game was delayed by 150 minutes due to lightning in the area, and that seemed to rattle the Tars pitchers. In the top of the first, Tampa hitters were plunked four times, and also drew a walk to score three runs without a hit. They added a fourth run in the second when a batter was hit for the fifth time, and then driven in on a sac fly.
Rollins got on the board in the second when
Mason Wilson doubled with one out. After a single moved him to third,
Parker Smith launched a ball to center plenty deep to bring in the run, making it 4—0.
Ryan Furey was the third pitcher of the night for Rollins, and threw incredibly well, keeping the Spartans off the board in innings three through seven. Meanwhile, the Tar offense had multiple opportunities to produce runs, putting men on in each inning, but could not come through. The toughest pill to swallow was loading the bases in the fifth with two outs, but not scoring.
Another opportunity presented itself in the sixth when
Cameron Meehan singled and moved to second on an error. The Tars would put runners on the corners with two out, but a sharp groundball to third from
Parker Smith was gloved nicely by Anthony Nunez for the third out.
After another solid inning from Furey in the seventh, Rollins finally snapped their scoreless streak. Rubin reached on an infield single, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and then scored on an
Adams Torres base hit. This chased SSC Pitcher of the Year Alex Canney from the game. The Tars would put runners on the corners and set up a marquee matchup between Dalton Ross and Meehan. Meehan was able to send a flyball to deep right-center, but it was caught, stranding two more men on base for Rollins.
Tampa got to Furey for the first time in the eighth. JD Urso led off with a single, and moved to second on a bunt. After a walk, Jamarcus Lyons shot a groundball through the left side to plate Urso, making it 5-2.
Austin Long relieved Furey, and stranded two runners with a strikeout and a flyout to left.
Long worked a scoreless ninth to give the Tars one final shot in the bottom half, but they could not push three runs across and fell 5-2.
Torres had two hits to lead the offense that outhit the Spartans 7-4, but stranded ten runners on base. Furey was phenomenal in relief, tossing 6.1 innings of four hit ball with one run allowed and two strikeouts.
The two teams will meet one final time on Sunday to determine who will advance to the Super Regional next weekend. The winner of tomorrow's game will host Barry University, the #6 seed, who defeated #2 West Florida earlier in the day.
