WINTER PARK, Fla. (March 15, 2025) - An offensive showcase and a thrilling walk-off helped the Rollins Tars defeat the Nova Southeastern Sharks twice on Saturday, giving the Tars a series sweep. With the wins, Rollins now stands at 16-6 on the year with an 8-1 record against SSC foes. Nova Southeastern falls to 11-11, 5-4 SSC.
Game One
The Tars slugged their way to a win in game one Saturday, winning 17-7, highlighted by a seven run third inning.
Nova Southeastern grabbed an early lead with a homerun to left center by three-hole hitter, Gabriel Esquivel off Rollins ace
Nick Berger. The game would remain 1-0 in the Sharks favor until the offensive explosion by the Tars in the third.
All the damage came with two outs, and a critical error made it all possible.
Mason Wilson came up to the plate with two runners aboard and hit a grounder to third, which presumably looked like it would end the inning. But a bad throw kept the Tars alive, and allowed
Angelo Ramirez to score from third to tie the game.
Dalton Pyzer was hit with the next pitch to load the bases, and
Chris Sparber doubled one batter later to give the Tars the lead, 3-1. Following two more free bases awarded by the Sharks starter, Ramirez and
Michael Furry singled home more runs. For the outfield duo, it was their second at-bats of the frame and for the Tars, it was a seven-run inning. All runs were of the unearned variety.
The Sharks would not go quietly, though. After Rollins tacked on one more off the bat of
Jeslyn Whitehead, making it two days in a row with a homer, Nova Southeastern found success with the long ball themselves. The Sharks roughed up Berger in the top of the fifth with three long balls to pull within two, 8-6, and ending his outing
But the Tars bats were just too hot for the Sharks pitching staff. Three straight hits opened the bottom of the sixth with
Joey Rubin and Whitehead each earning RBI. Later in the frame, Pyzer deposited an absolute moonshot over the right field fence, giving the Tars a 12-6 lead.
Rubin joined the dinger club with his third of the season in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run shot. Despite leaving the bases loaded, the Tars remained in command with a 14-6 lead going into the eighth.
After a walk and back-to-back singles, it appeared the Sharks might have a big inning, but reliever
Douglas Rojas limited the damage to one run. Rojas was outstanding in the bullpen, earning a save since he went three innings. The West Texas A&M transfer went three innings with four Ks and one earned run allowed. Rojas followed
Blake Tipmore's scoreless frame to total four strong innings for the Rollins bullpen.
In the eighth, hits by Furry and Whitehead tacked on three more runs for the good of the cause, increasing the Rollins lead to double digits, 17-7. Furry and Whitehead, alongside two-hole hitter
Joey Rubin, paced the Tars offensively with nine RBI between the three of them. A scoreless ninth worked by Rojas gave the Tars a 17-7 win in game one and clinched the series.
Game Two
The Tars walked it off in thrilling, come-from-behind fashion to complete the sweep of the Sharks and improve to 16-6 on the season. Trailing by a run heading to the bottom of the ninth,
Rob Buckley put the ball in play, and a costly error spelled defeat for Nova Southeastern.
The game remained scoreless through five and a half frames – each team holding just one hit to their name up until that point.
Ryan Murphy got the nod on the bump for Rollins and was absolutely masterful. In his longest outing of the season, the graduate student went 5.0 IP, surrendering just one hit and striking out two. The left-hander awarded a few free passes, walking two and hitting two batters, but he was able to work his way out of trouble for his second consecutive scoreless appearance. Those two outings have combined for 9.0 total innings.
Angelo Ramirez finally broke the tie after Murphy stranded two to conclude his outing in the fifth. Ramirez singled up the middle, scoring
Jimmy Thies, who had led off the inning with a double.
The lead did not last long, however, as the Sharks quickly answered with three runs of their own in the top half of the sixth. Despite back-to-back hits by
Jeslyn Whitehead and
Mason Wilson, the Tars could not muster anything in the bottom half of the sixth and went down in order in the seventh and eighth. In the meantime, Anthony Devita pitched a gem. Making just his second appearance of the year after beginning the season injured, Devita faced the minimum across two scoreless innings. His effort kept the Tars at striking distance.
Devita gave way to
Jackson Edelman in the ninth, who tossed another scoreless inning thanks to a nifty caught stealing. After the ball got away from catcher
Chris Sparber, the senior hustled to corral the ball and connected with Edelman to cut down a would-be insurance run for the Sharks. The play would prove pivotal as it meant Rollins just needed one run to extend the game; they did one better.
Mason Wilson led off the ninth inning with a single, followed by free passes to Pyzer and Thies to load the bases. Then, after falling behind 1-2 in the count,
Rob Buckley fouled off a few pitches before hitting a chopper to first. A nice snag by the Sharks first baseman robbed Buckley of a hit when he stepped on the bag for the force out. Still,
Mason Wilson was charging in from third to score the tying run. Wilson's intentions rushed a bad throw, which got all the way to the backstop. The errant throw not only helped Wilson score without a problem, but also gave the speedy
Corey Zientek, who had pinch-ran for Pyzer, to storm around the bases and score the winning run. The electric walk-off is the Tars second of its kind on the season and clinched a sweep over Nova Southeastern for the second time in three years.
Rollins collected 21 runs on 21 hits for the day. Whitehead was responsible for five knocks along with three runs and two RBI. Thies scored four times and Furry drove in four to help the Tar offense.
The Tars will be back in action with a pair of home games to start the week on Monday and Tuesday when Saint Michael's College visits Winter Park. Both games will begin at 3pm.
