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LAKELAND, Fla. – Nic Strasser, Ladeavon Matthews and Jean Figueroa each had two home runs during Sunday's double-header as the University of West Florida baseball team took one of two games from Florida Southern at Henley Field. UWF ends its first series of the season with a 1-2 record while Florida Southern sits at 3-2.
 
Game 1: West Florida 12, Florida Southern 0
 UWF wasted no time on Sunday to get the bats going, as UWF posted a five-run second inning and a three-run third inning to push ahead to an early 8-0 lead. All nine in the starting lineup reached base at least once, while eight of nine recorded a hit in the nine-inning contest. The 12-0 victory marks as UWF's largest shutout victory since April 6, 2013, when the Argos defeated West Georgia 14-0. At that time, West Florida ranked No. 15 nationally.
 
"I'm real proud of the offense today, putting the barrel on the ball really well," said UWF head baseball coach Mike Jeffcoat. "Really proud of the pitching, too. (JT) Granat had a solid start, Cole Crowder with his first appearance in college with three relief innings, and the defense played solid."
 
JT Granat made his first start as a member of the UWF baseball team and grabbed the win, tossing an impressive five scoreless innings with six strikeouts, one walk, two hits and no runs. The biggest highlight of the junior transfer's day, was striking out FSC's 1-2-3 hitters in order in the bottom half of the third inning. Lakeland native Cole Crowder threw a solid three innings of relief, surrendering only two hits while striking out 3 before Josh McLaney finished the game in the ninth inning.
 
The West Florida offense was powered by Strasser, who hit his first home run of the season while posting a 2-for-3 performance with four RBI and two walks. Justin Ambrosino hit a two-run double in the top of the second and went 2-for-5 on the day, while Alex Greene and John Price posted an RBI each. Ladeavon Matthews hit a homer well past the 405-foot fence in center at Henley Field, while Jean Figueroa smacked one off the left center field fence and ran all the way around the bases for an inside-the-park home run.
 
Game 2: Florida Southern 6, West Florida 5 (10)
The second game of Sunday's double-header was scheduled to be seven innings, however it took 10 innings to determine a winner on Sunday evening.
 
Walker O'Connor got the start for UWF, as the junior would toss 3.2 innings while surrendering no earned runs and six hits. Lake Sumter State transfers Anthony Mazzurco and Steven McClellan combined for 5.1 shutout innings of relief, with each surrendering only three hits apiece.
 
Strasser would hit his second home run of the day in the bottom of the fourth to get the scoring started for UWF. Matthews, just three batters later, would hit his second long ball of the day to have UWF jump out to a 2-0 lead.
 
UWF would head into the bottom of the seventh down one run, however a Robert Lopez single would get things started for the Argos. Matt Sullivan and Alex Greene would ground out to move Lopez over to third, before the Lakeland native was able to score the game-tying run on a wild pitch.
 
Both teams would remain deadlocked until the top of the 10^th inning, when Figueroa hit his second home run of the day to give UWF a 5-4 lead. Florida Southern would respond with two runs in the bottom half of the inning and grab the walk-off victory.
 
All six of FSC's runs were unearned to the UWF pitching staff, as three costly errors proved to be an important difference in UWF's game two effort.
 
Figueroa finished the series batting an impressive .455 (5-11) with two home runs and three RBI. Strasser led the team with two homers and six runs driven in over the three-game series, while Greene posted an eye-catching .636 on base percentage for the series.
 
West Florida now looks towards its home opener on Tuesday, as they host NAIA's Mobile at Jim Spooner Field at 5:00 p.m. Next weekend, UWF will play host to the defending NCAA Division II National Champion University of Tampa Spartans.
 
To stay updated on everything concerning UWF baseball, follow the team on Twitter at @UWF_Baseball.