Box Score BOX SCORE
When and Where: March 13, 2018 – St. Petersburg, Fla. (NSU Baseball Complex)
Score: Nova Southeastern University 10, Southern New Hampshire University 2
Records: NSU 11-7, SNHU 9-5
Junior Joshua Zbierski (Stafford Springs, Conn.) drove in the game-tying run during a two-run second inning that gave the Penmen the lead, but Nova Southeastern University would score nine answered runs to hand the 18th-ranked Southern New Hampshire University baseball team a 10-2 loss Tuesday in its Florida finale at the NSU Baseball Complex.
Nova Southeastern took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an infield RBI single by Jake Anchia, who hit a ball past sophomore Tom Blandini (Bow, N.H.) and barely beat the throw to first after senior Kyle Pangallo (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) made a fantastic bare-handed play at short.
Southern New Hampshire would answer with two in the top of the second, with Zbierski tying it on a single through the left side that scored redshirt-junior John Stanton (Sandwich, Mass.), who reached on an error. A wild pitch two batters later would score sophomore Jake Coro (Johnston, R.I.), who had blooped a single into left prior to Zbierski's hit.
Nova immediately answered in the bottom of the second, however, taking advantage of three errors to push across three runs on just one hit, to take a 4-2 lead.
A solo shot to center in the third by Ian Acevedo would nudge the margin to three at 5-2. The score would stay that way until the sixth a run-scoring single up the middle by Dylan Harris made it a four-run game.
The Sharks broke it open by scoring three times in the seventh on an RBI single by Christian Demby and sacrifice flies from Nathan Chevalier and Harris to make it 9-2. Another sac fly in the eighth from Samuel Duran would cap the scoring.
Zbierski (RBI), Stanton (run), Coro (run) and junior Kyle Ruth (Albany, N.Y.) were all 1-for-4. Redshirt-senior Ryan Sullivan (Hopkinton, Mass.) went 1-for-3 with a walk.
Junior Endy Morales (Holyoke, Mass.) allowed six runs – four earned – on eight hits, while striking out four and not walking a batter over five-and-a-third innings. Sophomore Nick Artymowicz (Seaville, N.J.) relinquished three runs on five hits, striking out one, in two-thirds of an inning. Freshman Jeffrey Praml (Bridgewater, N.J.) struck out one and walked one in a hitless inning of work, while junior Xavier Czepiel (Southampton, N.J.) tossed an inning and gave up one run on two hits and a pair of walks, while fanning a batter.
Notes:
- This marks the first time Southern New Hampshire has lost five of seven since May 1-16, 2015, while it is the first time the Penmen have dropped three straight since May 2-14 of that same season.
- Blandini had his nine-game hitting streak come to an end.
Up Next:
The Penmen return to action Saturday, March 17 (11 a.m.) when they take on St. Thomas Aquinas College in a doubleheader at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough, Mass.
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