Box Score

PENSACOLA, Fla. - The eighth ranked UWF Baseball Team got a dominant start from Evan Floyd and timely hitting from their offense as they defeated second ranked Lee University, 7-2, on Friday night at Jim Spooner Field.

With the win, West Florida moves to 27-8 on the year and 26-8 in the Gulf South Conference while LU drops to 32-5 and 26-4 in the GSC.

Floyd was in control for the majority of the night as the right-hander moved to 7-1 with the victory as he threw seven innings, allowing two runs on three hits with three walks and five strikeouts.  It matches the second longest start of the season for the Pensacola Catholic product as he dropped his earned run average to 3.13 in the effort, good enough for sixth in the GSC.  His five strikeouts on the night add to his total of 73 on the year, which also ranks sixth in the league.

"The start by Floyd was the key as it allowed us to start fast out of the gate and get off to a good start", said UWF Head Coach Mike Jeffcoat.  "Even though they struck first, we responded well by scoring in the bottom of the inning to tie it up.  We really executed the fundamentals well tonight.  We moved runners over, time and time again to keep tacking on runs and match them every time they would respond and challenge us.  We played great defense and had timely hitting and that is always a big key."

True Fontenot led all batters at the plate for the Argos with three hits and two runs in the contest.  Justin Dunnam and Miller Hancock added two hits for the blue and green, while Dylan Menhennett extended his hitting streak to 24 with an infield single in the first inning.

Lee got on the board first with a run in the first inning on a RBI groundout from Alan Smith.  UWF would quickly respond with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame as Adam Imwalle shot a single into right field with two outs, to score Menhennett from second and tie the game at one.  West Florida would add two more runs in the bottom of the third inning on a bunt single from Hancock that was thrown into the outfield by Flames starter, Alex Harper-Cook, that allowed Fontenot to score, with Hancock later coming home in the inning on a RBI groundout from Menhennett, making it 3-1 after three.

After Floyd had retired eight of nine batters, striking out three of them, Riley Black got Lee back into the game with a home run to deep left field in the top of the fifth to cut the Argos lead to one.  It was the 50th home run of the season for LU, the second most in the conference.

West Florida's offense would pick up Floyd in the bottom of the frame, with Fontenot leading the charge once again with a one-out single.  After advancing to third on a Flames error that also pushed Hancock to second, LU went to the bullpen. In the next at-bat, Cullan O'Shea grounded out to short on a 0-2 pitch, to score Fontenot and extend the lead to 4-2.  UWF would bring home another run in the bottom of the sixth as Dunnam singled up the middle to score Jason Roberts, who doubled with two outs, to push the advantage to 5-2. 

Following a scoreless inning by both squads in the seventh, Brendon Case came on to pitch for the hosts in the eighth as the sub-mariner induced a fly-out and a ground-out, with a strikeout in between, to set the Flames down in order.  That would set the stage for the Argos to do damage again with two outs.  Roberts started the rally with a hit-by pitch, with fellow freshman, Josh Majors, coming in as a pinch-runner for the Argos.  UWF would score in back-to-back at-bats with Dunnam doubling down the first-base line to score Majors, with Fontenot singling home Dunnam, who had advanced to second on a throw.

Case would strikeout Colton Yeager looking to finish a perfect two innings of work, and collect his fifth save on the year.  Dating back to last Saturday at West Georgia, Case has thrown 4.2 scoreless innings of work, not allowing a single hit while striking out four.

Harper-Cook (4-2) took the loss for the Flames after he went 4.1 innings, allowing four runs (one earned) on six hits with one strikeout.  Thomas Zazzaro and Ryan Beamish had the two other hits for the Flames while the Argonauts finished with 11 hits on the night, making it their 24th game this year with 10 or more hits.  

The two teams will play a double-header beginning at 1 p.m. tomorrow from Jim Spooner Field.  Ryan Brewer (5-2, 3.57 ERA) and Tyler Dowdy (4-1, 3.93 ERA) are expected to start on the mound for UWF.

"Tomorrow's games could be totally different and that's baseball.  However, I look for Brewer to start us out of the gate strong and then we're looking for our bullpen to do their job like they did tonight."

For the latest on the UWF Baseball Team, please visit GoArgos.com or follow the team on Twitter @UWF_Baseball.