MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – Coming up big in crunch time for the second day in a row, the Nova Southeastern Sharks baseball squad earned a crucial series win at the start of Sunshine State Conference play, defeating the 15th-ranked Barry Buccaneers, 2-1, at Feinbloom Field on Sunday afternoon.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final Score: Nova Southeastern – 2, Barry – 1
Records: Nova Southeastern (5-8, 2-1), Barry (9-2, 1-2)
Location: Feinbloom Field, Miami Shores, Fla.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
After 1-2-3 first innings in each of the first two games of the series, the Sharks rectified that immediately, en route to an early lead. Duncan Pastore led off with a line drive single into left field, then stole second and advanced to third as the throw sailed into center. He scored the game’s first run on another Bucs error that allowed Adan Fernandez to reach second. Brandon Chinea later followed with a single up that middle that could have scored Fernandez, but the Bucs’ shortstop made a great diving stop to keep it in the infield. Although the Sharks couldn’t cash it in, Chinea added another stolen base, to place two runners in scoring position.
Freshman Cooper Omans, making his first career start, worked around a one-out single, stranding the runner at third on a fly out. The Sharks left a runner of their own at third in the next half-inning, after a two-out single by Nathan Chevalier, who stole a base as well and advanced on another Barry error, but Pastore was rung up on strikes to end the inning.
The Sharks tacked on another run in the third, with a rally that was started by a four-pitch leadoff walk for Tyler Epstein, who then stole both second and third, the first of those on a pickoff attempt. Andrew Labosky followed with another walk and stolen base, and Chinea laid down a perfect bunt single to score Epstein, reaching with nobody covering first base. The Bucs finally caught on to the Sharks’ aggressiveness on the bases, picking off Chinea. Labosky then nearly caught the entire stadium off-guard by attempting a straight steal of home, but the throw was just in time to get him and end the unusual inning.
Meanwhile, Omans was dealing, working back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the second and third. The Bucs looked to be putting a rally together in the fourth, starting the inning with a full-count walk and a single to center, but Alex Hernandez put a stop to that, catching the lead runner on a double steal attempt. Pastore then made the last two outs of the inning at third, fielding a slow roller with a perfect throw and making a diving catch on a low pop-up to keep Barry off the board. In the fifth, he rolled a double play, despite a hit-and-run, with Chinea making an impressive jump-throw for the out at first.
Jarret Krzyzanowski came on in relief of Omans for the sixth inning, and the Buccaneers scored their first run of the game on a two-out single to right. Stephen Schissler made a great throw to the plate, but the runner dove head-first, just out of the way of Hernandez’s tag to cut the lead in half.
Barry threatened to tie the game in the seventh, with a single and a hit batter. However, Matt Kavanaugh relieved Krzyzanowski, just one day after locking down the save in Saturday’s 3-2 10-inning victory and got the clutch strikeout and fly out to get out of the jam.
Similarly, the Sharks threatened to add to their lead in the next half. Pastore lined a pitch into the right-center gap, but the right fielder made an incredible diving catch to rob Pastore of extra bases. Epstein made up for it with a bloop single to shallow right field, and Fernandez followed with a double just inside the third-base line – the team’s first extra-base hit of the series, putting two runners in scoring position. However, the Buccaneers reliever rebounded, with a strikeout and foul out to leave the runners aboard.
Lucas Reid got three groundouts to send the Bucs back to the dugout in order in the eighth and Duncan Pastore moved over from third base to the mound in the ninth to to secure a save and the series victory – he did so without any drama, retiring the side in order on a groundout, fly out and strikeout.
STATS OF THE GAME
- Omans (1-0) earned the win in his first-ever start, allowing just three hits and a walk in five shutout innings. It was also the longest scoreless outing by a Sharks pitcher so far this season.
- Pastore took his first career save with his 1-2-3 ninth.
- The pitching staff matched their season-low of one run allowed, despite another season-low two strikeouts.
- It was their fewest strikeouts in a game since a 7-4 loss at Tampa last March 2, when they didn’t have any, and both the fewest strikeouts in a win and the fewest runs allowed with two strikeouts or less since they defeated Millersville by the same score in the first game of the 2016 National Championship on June 3, 2016.
- Epstein and Chinea both had multi-hit games to lead the team, the fourth of the year for each player, and Epstein’s second in a row.
- In addition to handing Barry their first two losses of the season, the Sharks pitching staff also jammed up a Buccaneer offense that came into Saturday averaging 9.8 runs per game (.350 batting, .520 slugging and 35 total extra-base hits) to just three total runs in the final two games of the series, with a .188 batting average (12-for-64) and no extra-base hits.
- The Sharks stole seven bases for the second game in a row, led by Epstein’s first three of his career. They now have 37 as a team, 10 more than the next-closest SSC team.
- After losing four straight contests separated by a single run, the Sharks have now won back-to-back one-run games.
UP NEXT
The road set continues in South Florida for the Sharks next week, as NSU rematches at St. Thomas on Wednesday night, ahead of a three-game conference swing at Embry-Riddle over the weekend in Daytona Beach.
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