February 9, 2015
 
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PENSACOLA, Fla. – Ladeavon Matthews hit his Gulf South Conference-leading third home run of the season while Robert Lopez hit his first career home run as the University of West Florida baseball team defeated the University of Mobile by a score of 6-4 on Tuesday evening at Jim Spooner Field.
 
Troy Brown was called upon to make his first collegiate start for West Florida as the freshman threw three innings and only surrendered one run on two hits against the Rams. Brown did experience some control issues in the second, walking three consecutive batters, however the Lakeland native was able to finish strong and get out of the inning only allowing one run.
 
West Florida started its scoring right away, as a first and third double steal worked successfully for the Argonauts when Matthews took off for second base and Nic Strasser was able to swipe home on the throw down in the first inning.
 
Jarrod Petree took over on the hill in the fourth and struggled to start with walking his first two batters. Mobile briefly took a 2-1 lead, however Petree was able to finish the inning strong and leave two Mobile runners on base. Petree would go on to pitch the fifth and sixth and ended his outing retiring nine consecutive batters.
 
UWF put on strong offensive showings in the fifth and sixth, with the Matthews three-run blast coming in the fifth and Lopez's two run homer coming in the sixth to give West Florida a 6-2 lead. Mobile was able to chip away with a pair of runs in the eighth but the rally attempt was halted when Sean Kennedy was able to get the last out of the eighth inning.
 
"It was a good win, especially for our home opener," said UWF head baseball coach Mike Jeffcoat. "Petree and Brown showed resilience, they pitched themselves into some jams and they were able to work out of it. We had bright spots offensively, Robert Lopez hit his first home run, Ladeavon (Matthews) hit a big home run for us that helped us on the offensive end tonight and I'm happy for the win here tonight."
 
Offensively, Strasser continued his hot start to the 2016 season with a 2-for-4 performance with a pair of stolen bases and runs scored. Three other Argonauts, including Matthews, Justin Ambrosino and Michael Savas posted multi-hit days as the Argos tallied 12 in the Tuesday night contest. UWF batted .342 as a team on Tuesday night while holding Mobile to only four hits and a .133 average.
 
Petree was credited with the win on the mound for UWF after posting three innings of no-hit relief and striking out four. Josh McLaney was credited with his first save of the season, while Garrett Peek made his 2016 debut going 1.2 innings and surrendering one run on two hits.
 
UWF now looks towards a pivotal nonconference series against the defending NCAA Division II National Champion Tampa Spartans. UWF and Tampa will play one game each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with first pitch from Jim Spooner Field slated for 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Brandon Nagem is expected to start on the mound for the Argonauts on Friday.