It was just too little too late for the Lee baseball team on a cool, windy Friday evening as they fell to No. 1-ranked Tampa University, 9-7 at Larry Carpenter Stadium. The two teams will meet again on Saturday with the first game of a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
The 30-3 Spartans were leading 9-3 and seemed to be in command until the bottom of the ninth inning when the Flames sent 10 batters to the plate and put four runs on the board. To make things even more interesting, Lee had the bases loaded and the winning runs on base with two outs when pitcher Bray Nelson recorded a strikeout to end the dramatic comeback hopes.
"I was proud of how we fought until the last out," commented Coach Mark Brew after his club slipped to 17-18 on the year. "Tampa has a really good pitching staff, but our guys found ways to grind out some at bats and give us a chance at the end."
It was all Tampa in the first eight innings. The Spartans moved on top 3-0 after the first two innings and led 3-1 after three frames. The visitors continued to add to their margin with two more runs in the fourth and fifth innings and held a 7-2 lead. The Flames got one more run on the board in the eighth inning but entered the ninth with 15 big strikeouts against three Tampa pitchers.
"We need to clean up the strikeouts we had today, but hopefully we can use the late innings as some momentum to start the day (Saturday)," said Coach Brew.
The dramatic turnaround in the bottom of the ninth began when Matthew Batts delivered a pinch-hit single. Joshua Perez followed with a walk. With one out, Thomas Zazzaro came up with an RBI double and Justen Freeman drove home two runs with a two-base hit.
Dylan Standifer collected an RBI with a sacrifice fly, but the Flames refused to fold with two outs. Brandon Daniels and Jared Demkowicz delivered back-to-back singles and Adam Goolsby, who entered the game for catcher Issac Quinones, walked to load the bases. The thrilling inning ended two runs short with the strikeout by the Spartans' Nelson.
Eight different players had one hit apiece in the loss. Perez and Zazzaro scored a pair of runs while Freeman and Batts also scored. Quinones blasted a long homerun over the left-field wall in the fourth inning.
Cameron Land (3-3) started for the Flames and was charged with the loss. He worked four innings and allowed nine hits and four earned runs. Seth Coffelt pitched an inning, giving up two hits and two earned runs. Freshman Landon Maynor was strong again. In three innings he allowed two hits and one earned run. Cole Matthaidess pitched the ninth and surrendered two hits but did not allow a run.
The Spartans banged out 15 hits and were led by their top three hitters. Jordan Lala had two doubles, a single and scored two runs. Dre Ehrhard had a two-base hit, two singles, scored twice and knocked in a run. E.J. Cumbo homered and singled. He collected two RBI and scored twice. Luke Glancy also doubled and singled while Anthony Nunez joined the group that doubled. He also stroked a single and scored twice.
Haden Erbe (8-0) pitched five innings of two-hit ball. He allowed one earned run, struck out nine and walked one. Brayton Forsyth came on for 2.2 frames of one-hit ball. He picked up six strikeouts and allowed an earned run. Dalton Ross hurled only 2/3 of an inning before getting into trouble. He allowed three hits and four earned runs before Nelson was called on to get his seventh save of the year.
