LAKELAND, FLA. --- The University of West Florida baseball team split a doubleheader with Florida Southern at Henley Field in the season opener on Saturday.
 
FSC took the first game off a single homerun in the bottom of the 11^th but the Argos bounced back in game two after Josh Prizina hit a double down the middle to send Jacob Bailey in to solidify the win.
 
Jackson Grabsky led the team with four hits and Prizina was strong offensively and earned three RBI.
 
Game One
 
Dalton Neuschwander got the start for the Argonauts in their first game of the season, while Nathan Madej took the mound for the Mocs. Neuschwander went eight innings for the Argos, allowing zero earned runs with only two hits while striking out eight. The right-handed pitcher had a no-hitter in the third and fourth inning but the Mocs got to Neuschwander first after a throwing error to let the batter advance to third. With a runner on third and no outs, the Mocs hit a sacrifice flyball out to centerfield for an easy run in.
 
UWF pushed two runs across in the eighth from a Prizina double to take the lead but was unable to make any further damage. The Argos had three left on base but was unable to send any of them home and it would later cost them in an 11^th inning Florida Southern home run to take a 3-2 win.
 
Justin Stewart (1-0) who took over the pitching for the Mocs in the top of the 10^th took the win after allowing no hits in the final two innings.
 
"It's early in the season and we're still trying to find our way offensively but the pitching has been great," said UWF head coach Mike Jeffcoat.
 
Game Two
 
Game two had a similar start as the first three innings went scoreless but each team got a run in the fourth to keep it interesting. Prizina came up big to earn another RBI after singling up the middle to send Jadon Fryman in just after Fryman singled through the right side and stole second to get him in good scoring position.
 
The Mocs answered with a run themselves – quickly getting loaded bases and a fielder's choice sent a runner home to even out the score. The Argos then pulled it together in the defense and followed up with a double play by Grabsky, Trent Jeffcoat and Darrien McDowell.
 
Kade Mandersheid (1-0) pitched 5.1 innings and had four strikeouts. In the bottom of the sixth with one out, Tyler Dowdy took over the mound and earned a save. He ended the following innings with roaring strikeouts to get their first win of the season.
 
"Mandersheid did good and Dowdy closing the door was outstanding for us. We now have to close out tomorrow (Sunday)."
 
In just 1.2 innings pitched, Dowdy had four strikeouts with three of them occurring in the bottom of the seventh.
 
The teams will finish off with one final game tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET at Henley Field.