With Sweep of Mocs, Spartans Clinch SSC Title
TAMPA, Fla. - With a sweep of the No. 4 Florida Southern College Moccasins, the No. 2 University of Tampa baseball team clinched the Sunshine State Conference title for its 2010 campaign. The Spartans sit at 42-8 and an unmatched 21-3 SSC mark while the Mocs stumble to 37-10 and 12-6 in league play after dropping the Saturday doubleheader.
UT won the first game by a 3-1 margin and concluded the second game at 9-5 as the Spartans took the series.
Junior Dylan Brown had a knock in the first game of the set, a solo shot to deep right to put the Spartans in the lead. The rightfielder later bunted Jared Simon over to third where third baseman Trace Venegas drove him in off of an RBI single to right, ending the scoring for the game at 3-1.
Starter Josh Bowman threw eight innings of five-hit ball, allowing a single run and two strikeouts to earn the win. Reliever Evan Stobbs closed out the game to earn his ninth save.
In game two, senior Brett McKean went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs while shortstop Patrick Donahue had two hits and two RBI on the contest.
Senior starter A.J. Pinera earned the win in game two, pitching five innings allowing three runs and sent five Mocs down on strikes. Reliever Aaron Gerbasi got the Spartans out of a final inning jam by delivering a three-pitch strikeout with the bases loaded to earn the save.
With their regular season now complete, the Spartans wait for word of its place in the NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament at a site to be announced.
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