Tars baseball allows three blowout losses

Rollins

After a weekend allowing double-digit runs in three straight games, the Tars are looking to regroup when they take off for a road trip to South Florida looking to salvage their record.

As it stands, the Tars are 21-19 overall and 6-12 in the Sunshine State Conference on the tail end of a four-game losing streak at a crucial point in conference play.

How they got there started with a two-run rally in the top of the third on their home field trying to close out a series against Florida Southern. That turned into a 9-2 rout April 9. Then when the Tars rolled onto Nova Southeastern’s Ft. Lauderdale campus, the skies opened up.

The Sharks (28-12, 14-4) would deluge Tars pitching with a seven-run first-inning rally that would lay the groundwork for an 11-7 slugfest loss. A deluge of opposing offense drowned the Tars again when they let go of a shaky one-run lead in the second inning of game two and let it explode into a 10-5 win for NSU.

It was more of the same in the final game, though the Tars’ pitching held off the Sharks for longer this time, with Matt Hendricks going 5.1 innings before the shelling began. Again, the damage was too much to fix, despite a pair of long-balls from Nick Breen and Chris Corbett, and the Tars fell 10-3.

For the Tars, Barry (20-20, 4-11) awaits this weekend. The teams have yet to meet this season. The three-game series starts at 6 p.m. Friday, then a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday before the Tars take a long break heading into May.

UCF

When the USF Bulls came to UCF’s home diamond and pushed them around in the first game of a three game series, suddenly the Knights’ bats got mad.

It was already too late for a shot at a win when Harrison Hukari was called up to the mound in the middle of the third inning to do damage control after the Bulls scored six runs and only recorded one out. Control he did, pitching 6.2 innings of two-hit ball, but watching the Knights’ bats come up short.

After falling 6-4 in game one, the Knights would blast three doubles and a home run to take the next two games 4-0 and 6-5.

Eli Putnam’s solo shot in game two may have made the most noise, but Robby Howell’s seven-strikeout, one-hit gem kept the Bulls’ bats silent. Trent Thompson finished things off with three strikeouts in two innings.

In game three the Knights had a fight on their hands after the Bulls scored three runs in the top of the first inning. It’d take three two-run rallies by the Knights to eventually catch up at the bottom of the eighth thanks to a spree of timely hitting by the bottom of the Knights’ order. Thompson’s second straight relief appearance buttoned things up with three hits allowed in the final three innings.

The wins erased the heartache of four straight losses and lifted the Knights’ record to 20-19 overall and 5-4 in the American Athletic Conference, just a game behind conference leader Cincinnati (18-19, 6-3).

Ryan Crile’s two-run blast wasn’t enough to stave off North Florida (25-14) as the Ospreys won 4-3 on a wild walk-off finish, when a diving Patrick Ervin was thrown out at home, but when Dakota Higdon then tried to score, UCF catcher David Phrathep, who had subbed in that inning, mis-threw the ball, letting the winning run cross the plate.

The Knights’ march through conference play continues this weekend with a homestand against Tulane (22-13, 4-4), their first meeting this season. The Green Wave sneaked off with a 1-0 win in the middle of getting hammered by Cincinnati last weekend.

Winter Park

The Wildcats entered the Class 9A District 6 tournament as the top seed in a five-team field, earning a bye for the opening round and playing their first game Wednesday night at press time.

They faced No. 4 seed Timber Creek (15-11), which edged Colonial 3-2 Tuesday night. With a win, they’ll be on to the district championship game, which will play at 7 p.m. Friday at Timber Creek.

Edgewater

After spanking the host team Mainland in the Class 7A District 5 tournament’s opening round Monday, the Eagles (14-13) blasted Pine Ridge 8-0, thanks to Josh Wilson and Paul Russell each going 2-for-3 to lead their team.

The win earned them a berth into the district championship game, which plays at 6 p.m. Friday at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach.