PENSACOLA, Fla. – UWF baseball (2-5) dropped its first contest at the Argo Invitational Friday evening, falling at Jim Spooner Field 10-6 to the No. 2/5 Tampa Spartans (5-2). UT built a 10-0 lead after 4 ½ innings before the Argos roared back for six runs on seven hits in the bottom of the fifth. The home team could get no closer though, dropping to 2-1 at home in 2018.
"What we take out of it is we've got to get better pitching," said UWF head coach Mike Jeffcoat. "We've got to get better pitching to keep our team in the game so our offense can work for us. Bottom line: there is no magic formula. It's just finding a way to get outs so that our offense can work for us. If you give up a couple, fine. But you can't give up the big crooked numbers."
Argo starter Tony Kucera set aside six straight to start the game but found trouble in the third. There, Brandon Gali tagged him for a two-RBI single to open the scoring. Darren Miller and Danny Sirven combined for three RBIs on a double and a single respectively to run the score to 5-0 later in the frame.
"I was obviously surprised that they got to Kucera so quickly. He just kind of lost his command in that third inning. Tampa is a good club. They're known to do that," Jeffcoat said of the Spartan surge that established a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
Kucera (1-1) suffered his first loss of the season. He threw 38 pitches and surrendered five hits, five runs (five earned) and one walk over three innings.
The No. 2 Spartans kept the pressure up in the fourth, tagging Kucera's reliever Jared Gonzalez for four runs on three hits. The inning culminated with a three-run homer by Miller, who reset his career-high with five RBIs. The Spartans got to Chase Evans in the top of the fifth for two hits and one run. An RBI double by Nick DeTringo grew the lead to 10-0.
UWF fought back in the bottom of the fifth, knocking Tampa starter David Lebron from the game with seven hits and six runs. Lebron, who had cruised through the first four innings, was driven from the game one out shy of being in position to earn his second win of the season.
Mike Branche got the Argos going with the first hit of the big half inning. He would come in to score on an RBI base hit by Mason Dinesen. With the bases loaded, Nic Strasser drew a walk to bring in a second run. Nick Kerkmann then picked up two more tallies with a 2-RBI single to left. Strasser would score on a wild pitch before Matt Sullivan capped the frame with an RBI single that made it 10-6.
"I saw a lot of fight in our players," said Jeffcoat. "Lebron is going to be a draft pick-type pitcher, and we got to him, knocked him out of the game, put a six-spot on the board, and I was real proud of the guys. It got us back in the game. And then the guys we brought in after that did a nice job."
UWF got four innings of scoreless relief to conclude the game from Dylan Mills-Derouen and Alex Knight. Unfortunately the Argo bats were stymied my Mike Moclair, who finished the fifth and posted 4 ? innings of scoreless, hitless ball to earn the win. With the victory, the hard-throwing righty moved to 1-1 on the season.
The Argos stranded six baserunners in the game vs. five for Tampa. The Spartans outhit UWF 11-8. Spartan pitchers notched 10 total strikeouts. Monclair finished with six strikeouts, one walk and one hit-by-pitch.
The Argos, who have now dropped two in a row, will look to get back on track vs. Palm Beach Atlantic (5-4). The Sailfish downed Spring Hill College 17-3 in the Invitational's afternoon game on Friday. The Argos and Sailfish will meet at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow at Jim Spooner Field. LHP Kirk Maddox (0-1, 3.52 ERA) is expected to get the start for UWF.
"We've got to pitch and make the plays if their guys are putting balls in play, and hopefully we can get our offense going a little quicker tomorrow to maybe give our pitchers a little more leeway," Jeffcoat said of the upcoming matchup vs. Kent Bottenfield's PBA squad. "We hope to get out of the box in the first three innings. We've got to win the first three… We've got to find a way to take a lead and maybe change the mindset of this team. I think if we keep getting behind, there's going to be some pressing going on."
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