PENSACOLA, Fla. – UWF baseball could not hold on to a late lead vs. the No. 4/5 Florida Southern Mocs Sunday afternoon at Jim Spooner Field. FSC struck twice in the seventh to erase a 5-4 Argonaut advantage and leave Pensacola with a 6-5 win. The victory clinched the series for the visitors two games to one.
 
"I thought our team played well but made the critical mistakes, especially on the defensive end, that cost us the game," said UWF head coach Mike Jeffcoat. "The team that made the fewest mistakes in a big third game of the series was going to win the game."
 
Tony Kucera got the ball for the Argos to start. The senior lefty went 4.1 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits. He struck out three and walked three. After allowing a run in the first, Kucera stranded two aboard and seemed to be on track in the second. He set aside two straight to start the frame before a pair of two-out errors by the Argo defense led to two more FSC runs.
 
Down 3-0 heading to the bottom of the second, the Argo bats woke up against FSC starter Jacob Kelley. UWF tagged him for five runs in the second and third. Dylan Menhennett drove in three of the five runs in the scoring outburst, knocking home Joey Bend with a double in the second and Bend and Matthew Jones with a single in the third. Bryant Harris Jr. also picked up an RBI as the Argos flipped the 3-0 deficit into a 5-3 lead.
 
The Mocs (2-1) drove Kucera from the game in the fifth with another tally, but Jared Hatch entered out of the bullpen to stabilize the situation by stranding a pair of runners. The transfer from Pensacola State put the Mocs away with a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth.
 
"Our bullpen was outstanding," said Jeffcoat. "Jared Hatch was great today… The pitching did enough for us to win."
 
In the seventh, another pair of Argo errors opened the door for Florida Southern to post two more runs and steal away the lead. UWF was unable to bridge the gap in the closing frames vs. the Mocs bullpen. In the ninth, Leo Rodriguez stranded the tying run aboard and struck out three in notching his second save in as many days.
Hatch (0-1) ended up taking the loss despite allowing just two hits over 4.2 innings. He allowed two runs (one earned) while striking out four and walking two. Thomas Spinelli, the Mocs' first reliever behind Kelley, earned the win by going 3.1 innings without a hit or a run. He stuck out four and walked two.
 
Matthew Estrada turned in his second multi-hit game of the series for the Argonauts. He reached base three times, including on a one-out single in the ninth vs. Rodriguez. Menhennett was the only other Argo with multiple hits. UWF outhit Florida Southern 8-7, but, as happened in every game of the series, the team with more hits suffered the loss.
 
UWF (1-2) travel to Rollins College (2-1) for a three-game series starting Friday at 4:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. CT. Starters for both teams are TBA. UWF will return home Feb. 16 for five games in four days vs. Christian Brothers and Nova Southeastern.
 
"We're going to talk about and work on cleaning up our mistakes," Jeffcoat said of the team's preparation for the series vs. the Tars. "If we can clean those things up, I'm still confident in our team. I know we have the players necessary to win. [This series] was a good gauge, and hopefully serves as a great motivator for us."
 
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