Tars avenge losses

Two losses in three games put the Rollins College baseball team in a conference play tailspin, but they corrected just in time with a 4-3 win over Tampa to close out the series.

And the Tars (25-15, 8-7) turned around their fortunes in just one wild final inning that put them over the top.

In the first two games of their homestand against Tampa, the Tars struggled offensively while giving up double digit runs to the Spartans.

Game 1 started with a four run first inning by the Spartans, and they didn't let up from there, launching into repeated rallies that piled on the runs in a 12-4 blowout. Starter Stephen Hiscock (5-2) picked up only his second loss of the season after giving up eight runs in the melee.

Game 2 was only marginally better for the Tars, who breezed through a scoreless first inning before letting the Spartans tack six runs on the scoreboard in the second. The 11-5 blowout that followed included five doubles and two homeruns by the Spartans, who teed off on starter Ben Blanton for seven earned runs.

But Game 3 was a gem for the Tars, who rallied around complete game winner Tim Griffin's five-hit, six-strikeout performance to give him the win in the final inning. Griffin's record improved to 7-2 on the season.

Some of the offensive firepower that put the Tars over the top came from Taylor Ferguson's seventh homerun of the season. Ferguson would go 4-for-4 on the day, knocking in two runs.

It was the seventh inning that changed the Tars' fortunes. They'd been behind the Spartans since the second inning, but a massive rally with two outs in the bottom of the final inning saw three runners score to put the Tars over the top.

The Tars travel to face Eckerd in a two-game series starting Friday at 7 p.m.

UCF Knights

The Knights are on their second biggest winning streak of the season following a three-game sweep of Southern Miss in Hattiesburg last weekend.

That string of wins came on the heels of a 7-3 win over USF in Tampa, making their four straight wins the longest road streak of the year.

This weekend, the Knights (22-12, 5-4) return home with a three-game series against Rice starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.