BOX SCORE

PENSACOLA, Fla.  – West Florida's streaks of eight consecutive home conference series victories and four series victories against North Alabama both came to a close on Sunday after the Argos suffered a 6-2 setback at Jim Spooner Field. 

Walker O'Connor performed well in his third start of the year but was dealt with a tough-luck loss after 6.1 innings pitched with eight hits and two earned runs allowed. O'Connor struck out four while walking just one. Upon finishing the sixth inning, O'Connor retired 13 of 14 batters including nine consecutively to finish a strong stretch in the middle innings. 

"I was proud of O'Connor today. He pitched just like he's done the rest of his career here. He really kept us in the ballgame after having a rough first inning," stated head coach Mike Jeffcoat. 

After North Alabama (12-6, 7-2 GSC) posted a run in the first, UWF (9-8, 5-4 GSC) evened the score with a Ladeavon Matthews RBI single scoring Trevor Payne. 

UNA built a 5-1 lead behind a four-run seventh inning where a costly UWF error allowed three unearned runs to score. 

Matt Sullivan drove in Payne in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI double to cut it 5-2, but UNA responded with a run in the top of the eighth to make the score its final 6-2. 

The Argos were led offensively by Sullivan and Matthews who each had two hits and a RBI. Payne reached base a game-high three times by drawing three of the Lions' four walks allowed. 

North Alabama starter Devan Traglia tossed a complete game for the Lions, allowing just two runs on seven hits with four walks and a pair of strikeouts. 

"Give North Alabama credit, they have a good team and they put the ball in play well. They forced us to make some plays and we didn't make those plays," Jeffcoat stated.

UWF continues GSC play next weekend when hosting Alabama Huntsville, but sees midweek action on Wednesday when the team travels to Auburn Montgomery for a non-conference affair.