Game 1  | Game 2

PENSACOLA, Fla. – The eighth ranked Argonaut baseball team scored eight runs in each contest and received a dominant performance from freshman pitcher, Tyler Dowdy, to take both ends of a double-header against second ranked Lee University by finals of 8-4 and 8-1, on Saturday afternoon at Jim Spooner Field.
 
With the two wins, UWF earns the series sweep over the Flames and pushes their record to 29-8 overall and 28-8 in the Gulf South Conference.  LU drops to 32-7 on the season.  The series victory is UWF's 11th series win of the year and their fifth series sweep.
 
"It was a great weekend for our baseball program and for our seniors", said UWF Head Coach Mike Jeffcoat.  "It was a terrific way for our seniors and our team to end the home season.  I really challenged the team after game one last night and they responded.  Lee scored first in game one and like our team has done all year long, we responded and we carried that momentum into a sweep."
 
West Florida finishes the regular season at 20-5 at home, which is the second most in the last six seasons for the team.  Dowdy's complete game is only the third for an Argo this season, and it is also the first nine-inning complete by a freshman at UWF since his teammate, Hunter Lucas, threw a nine-inning complete game against Miles College in 2018.
 
"He was throwing his breaking ball for strikes early in the count and that is always key", said Jeffcoat.  "Tyler is not going to light the radar gun up, but he changes speeds and today, he showed that when he is at his best, he is going to be really tough to beat.
 
Second baseman Adam Imwalle led the way on offense as the redshirt senior totaled five hits and batted in five runs in the two games combined.  Miller Hancock added six hits of his own, including four in game one, while Dylan Menhennett tallied three hits as well on the day to extend his hitting streak to 26 games.  Hancock raised his batting average to .375, second-highest on the team and ninth-highest in the league.  As a whole, UWF tallied 22 hits on the day, bringing their season total to 413, which is tied for most in the conference and it also marked the 25th and 26th times in 2021, that the Argos have had 10 hits or more in a contest.
 
One of the keys to the double-header sweep was the success of the Argonaut bullpen.  Alex Knight, Sean Means and Brendon Case, threw six innings, only allowing one run on four hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.    
 
The Argonauts will now turn their attention to the GSC Tournament as play begins on May 7^th in Oxford, Alabama.  UWF will be the second seed in the tournament and will find out their opponent on Monday after the conclusion of this weekend's conference games.
 
Game 1: Lee jumped ahead with three runs in the first off of Argo starter, Ryan Brewer with Thomas Zazzaro scoring on a fielder's choice and the visitors scoring two more on a two RBI single from Landon Silver.  West Florida would bounce right back as Hancock and Menhennett opened the inning with back-to-back singles with Imwalle driving them both home on his first double of the afternoon to make it 3-2 after one frame.
 
The Argos would tie the game two innings later on an RBI single from Cullan O'Shea that scored Hancock. Brewer would only face two batters in the fourth before being replaced by Knight.  In the start, the right-hander threw three innings, allowing three runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts, earning a no-decision.
 
UWF Head Coach Mike Jeffcoat turned to Knight and just like the week prior, the redshirt senior delivered.  Knight was masterful in his performance as he gave the hosts' three scoreless innings, with no hits, one walk and three strikeouts to earn the win.  Alex also threw three scoreless innings of relief in last weekend's series at West Georgia.
 
As Knight was dealing on the mound, the Argo offense took advantage on the opposite side.  With one out in the fourth, left-fielder Justin Dunnam launched his second home run of the season, this one to right-center off of LU starter Logan Workman, to break the tie and put the Argonauts up 4-3.  The Argos would get to the Flames bullpen in the sixth as they finally chased Workman who had come in to the match-up as one of the top starting pitchers in all of Division II.
 
Means came on out of the bullpen for UWF and was able to keep the Flames off the scoreboard, setting the table for a four-run bottom of the frame by the Argo offense.  A one-out triple by Hancock and a hit-by pitch of O'Shea put runners on the corner with Menhennett singling off of relief pitcher, Alan Carter, to put the score at 5-3.  After a single by Imwalle to load the bases, Sam Clement came through with a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home O'Shea.  Menhennett and Imwalle would score on the next at-bat on a passed ball and RBI single from Matthew Estrada to make it 8-3 after seven innings.
 
After a Joshua Perez home run in the eighth to make it 8-4, Jeffcoat called on closer Brendon Case to come in for the ninth and the sub-mariner delivered as he only allowed one hit and got a strikeout to end the contest.
 
Workman took the first loss of his season as he gave up four runs on seven hits, with one walk and five strikeouts in five innings, his shortest outing of the year.  Zazzaro, Alan Smith and Colton Yeager each had two hits in the game.
 
Game 2: For the first time in the series, West Florida got on the board first as Imwalle and Estrada hit back-to-back RBI doubles to make it 2-0 UWF after the first inning.
 
Coming back in the second with the lead, Dowdy was dominant from then on as the freshman only allowed two base-runners in the first five innings as he sat the visitors down in order in four of those frames.  Tyler allowed his only run of the contest on a home run to right field by Joshua Perez with two outs in the third.
 
The two-time GSC freshman of the week, Dowdy was in total command for the rest of the command as he only allowed three hits after the third inning, picking up seven strikeouts in the process.  He earned his fifth win of the season with the complete-game performance and dropped his season ERA to 3.52, the third lowest on the team and lowest among all-freshman in the conference.
 
Even though Dowdy was in control on the mound, the Argonauts found themselves locked in a pitching duel with Flames' starter, Seth Konkel.  In the bottom of the sixth, however, that all changed as UWF broke the game open with a six-run frame, sending 10 batters to the plate.
 
Kyle D'Amour, pinch-hitting in the designated hitter spot, opened the inning with a walk.  After a single and an error on a bunt by Dunnam, runners were on second and third with one out.  With the game in the balance in the sixth inning, Lee brought in their closer, Andy Rivera, who had been 2-0 with a 1.07 ERA and was second in the nation with nine saves.
 
Rivera, however, was no match for the Argos as the first batter he faced, True Fontenot, singled up the middle to score both D'Amour and Dunnam, to make it 5-1.  Hancock followed with a single of his own to score Fontenot and make it 6-1, with a bases-loaded two RBI single from Imwalle two batters later, putting the game at 7-1, essentially icing the game for the Argos.  Rivera would then exit the game after not recording an out and allowing four runs on three hits.
 
UWF would add one more in the frame on a sacrifice fly by Estrada to score Menhennett.  Dowdy would face a little bit of trouble on the seventh as he allowed two singles, before inducing a pop-up by Adam Goolsby to end the threat.  Tyler faced the minimum number of batters in the eighth and ninth, which included earning the final out by inducing a ground-ball to first base with Dowdy covering the bag to end the game on his 108^th pitch.
 
Konkel took the loss for LU as the left-hander threw 5.1 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts.  Five Flame's each tallied a hit in the contest.

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