Alfonzo’s Big Day Lifts Spartans Over Griffins

Box score

TAMPA, Fla. - Giovanny Alfonzo's big day helps lift the No.1 ranked University of Tampa baseball team over Seton Hill in a 7-2 win Sunday afternoon.

With the win the Spartans improve to 19-1 in their 2014 campaign, while Seton Hill drops to 4-5 early in its season.

Alfonzo on the day went 3-for-4, crossing the plate twice, including an inside the park home run in the sixth inning. The sure handed shortstop made numerous spectacular defensive plays dazzling the home crowd. Zach Gawrych also contributed a great effort batting 3-for-4 with two RBI.

The Spartans struggled to find their bats in the game until the fifth inning when the Spartans exploded for three runs. Back-to-back singles by Gawrych and Alfonzo started Tampa's offensive run. With the bases loaded Connor Obrochta ripped a two-bagger down the left field line to score Gawrych and Tyler York. Orlando Rivera then hit a sacrifice fly to score Alfonzo, giving the Spartans the 3-0 lead.

Alfonzo's inside the park homerun extended the UT lead to 4-2 in the sixth. Tampa then added three insurance runs in the eighth to put the game away.

Starting pitcher Brad Hencke (1-0) threw five scoreless innings for the Spartans and earned his first win of the season. Seton Hill's Brad Schnelle (0-2) picks up the loss, pitching four and two thirds, while allowing three runs.

Tampa will welcome Bridgeport on Wednesday for a 6 p.m. contest. Live stats as well as a live video webcast will be made available through www.tampaspartans.tv.

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