PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 30 West Florida baseball team faced a tough test against No. 10 Alabama Huntsville in a Gulf South Conference doubleheader at Jim Spooner Field on Saturday, and the Argonauts fell by a score of 2-0 in both games. UWF dropped to 14-9 overall on the season and 8-6 in GSC play, while the Chargers extended their lead at the top of the standings to 14-1-1 and 10-1-1 in league play.
"You have to give credit to their pitchers," said UWF head coach
Mike Jeffcoat. "They did an outstanding job today shutting us down. The few opportunities we had, we just couldn't move our guys into scoring position. That was the difference today. When you have low scoring games you have to take advantage of those opportunities, and we weren't able to do that today."
Both of UWF's starting pitchers on Saturday performed well but were saddled with losses.
Brandon Nagem (Pensacola, Fla.) got the nod in game one, and he allowed two runs in 7.1 innings while striking out nine with no walks; the left-hander dropped to 4-1 with the loss. Daniel Koger (6-0) started for UAH and kept the Argos off the board for 7.1 innings while allowing four hits and three walks.
The Chargers manufactured both of their runs, as the first came in the third inning after AJ Walden singled, reached second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by Tanner Cimo. The second run came in the seventh on a squeeze bunt by Austin Sanders.
Walker O'Connor (Bedford, Mass.) pitched well in game two for UWF, allowing two runs, one earned, in 6.1 innings pitched. Despite the loss (4-2), he struck out seven and walked only one. Mitchell Wright (2-0) pitched four scoreless innings for UAH in the game two win, and Chris Kilpatrick blanked the Argos over the final three innings to earn the save.
UAH first got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning of game two, as Colton Simbeck homered to lead off the inning. The Chargers added another run in the top of the seventh, again on a squeeze bunt.
The series finale against No. 10 Alabama Huntsville is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Jim Spooner Field. For information on all UWF athletics, visit
www.GoArgos.com.
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Alabama Huntsville 2, West Florida 0 (Mar 14, 2015 at Pensacola, FL) (Game 1)
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Alabama Huntsville.. 001 000 100 - 2 4 0 (13-1-1, 9-1-1 GSC)
West Florida........ 000 000 000 - 0 6 0 (14-8, 8-5 GSC)
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Pitchers: Alabama Huntsville - Daniel Koger; Luke Mould(8) and AJ Walden. West Florida -
Brandon Nagem; Reed Bright(8) and Kyle Hamner.
Win-Daniel Koger(6-0) Save-Luke Mould(5) Loss-Brandon Nagem(4-1) T-2:30 A-0
Weather: 72 degrees, partly cloudy
Game: UWF22 Alabama Huntsville 2, West Florida 0 (Mar 14, 2015 at Pensacola, FL) (Game 2)
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Alabama Huntsville.. 000 100 1 - 2 5 0 (14-1-1, 10-1-1 GSC)
West Florida........ 000 000 0 - 0 2 1 (14-9, 8-6 GSC)
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Pitchers: Alabama Huntsville - Mitchell Wright; Chris Kilpatrick(5) and AJ Walden.
West Florida - Walker O'Connor; Ronnie May(7) and Kyle Hamner.
Win-Mitchell Wright(2-0) Save-Chris Kilpatrick(1) Loss-Walker O'Connor(4-2) T-2:10 A-416
HR UAH - Colton Simbeck (4).
Weather: 71 degrees, partly cloudy
M. Wright faced 2 batters in the 5th.
Game: UWF23
