FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Back at home for the first time in 20 days, the Nova Southeastern baseball team (10-10) dominated Northeast-10 foe American International from wire-to-wire in a late afternoon tilt, Friday at the NSU Baseball Complex. The Sharks outpaced the Yellow Jackets 14-2 in hits for a commanding 9-0 victory in the shortest game in a little over a year.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final Score: Nova Southeastern – 9, American International – 0
Records: Nova Southeastern (10-10), American International (0-3)
Location: NSU Baseball Complex, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Get Social: Twitter – @NSU_Baseball | Instagram – @NSU_Baseball | Facebook – /NSUSharksAthletics
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Sharks proved unrelenting from the opening frame on both sides of the ball, following up a straight 1-2-3 inning from starter JP Williams with an opening-frame lead in the home half. Duncan Pastore worked a two-out double into the right center alley to provide the first Sharks runner aboard. Andrew Labosky followed up with an RBI double lined into left field to push the Sharks ahead in the opening stanza on Pastore’s score.
Although the Yellow Jackets kept NSU off the board in the second, the Sharks doubled-up in the third, capitalizing on a Brandon Chinea leadoff single and a second Pastore double, as Labosky send a two-run single up the middle to score both. In the fourth, Nathan Chevalier extended the lead to four on an RBI single up the middle that plated Ale Hernandez.
In the meantime, Williams was tossing a career outing, going five scoreless innings with just a single third-inning Brandon Gaul single, matching his career high with seven strikeouts and no walks. He handed off in the sixth to Jarret Krzyzanowski.
With a new man on the mound, the Sharks lit up the scoreboard in run support in the sixth frame. Bryce Hazzard led off with a single, stole second and came around to score on another Chevalier RBI single. After reaching base on a third-strike passed ball, Hernandez crossed home thanks to a Chinea two-run double rocket ricocheted off pitcher Matt Costanza’s thigh into outfield – departing the Yellow Jackets’ starter from the game. With Gaul taking over pitching duties, the Sharks seized on the opportunity, adding two more on a Tyler Epstein RBI single to right center, followed by a fifth run on a Michael Uzsacrifice fly that pressed Epstein home.
In addition to the sixth, Krzyzanowski also tossed an effective seventh with just a single hit allowed, striking out two batters before handing off the final two frames to Ricky Shimko – who allowed hits or walks and struck out 4-of-7 batters faced. Williams (1-2) earned the win for NSU, while Costanza (0-1) took the loss for AIC, allowing seven earned runs and 13 hits through 5.0 innings.
STATS OF THE GAME
- With 14 hits on the afternoon, the Sharks have now recorded at least 12 hits in the past four games, including 14 hits in three of those contests – going 3-1 in that stretch.
- Labosky and Chinea led the hitting effort, each going 3-for-4 against the Yellow Jackets – Labosky with 3 RBI and Chinea batting in two runs while scoring twice himself.
- Pastore and Hernandez also both went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
- Labosky collected his fifth multi-hit performance, his fourth multi-RBI game on season hights – both his best totals since 2018 against Catawba (Feb. 4)
- Chinea produced his eighth multi-hit game and third multi-RBI outing – racking up multiple hits in each of the past four games.
- Pastore notched a team-leading ninth multi-hit game on his first dual-double outing – lifting his doubles total to 11 through just 20 games – a stat in which he ranked seventh nationally coming into the weekend.
- It was Hernandez’ third multi-hitter.
- With his sixth-inning two-run single, Epstein extended his team-high 14-game hit streak and recorded his first career multi-RBI game.
- Leading the NCAA in stolen bases, the Sharks extended their season total to 57 with four base grabs against the Yellow Jackets.
- The Sharks pitching staff only walked one batter and struck out 13 of 31 batters faced.
- Leading the effort, Williams matched a career high with seven strikeouts, allowing only one hit and no walks for one of the best starts of his career.
- Krzyzanowski has now gone three consecutive appearances without a run allowed, striking out eight in the past 6.0 innings on the bump and lowering his ERA to 3.63 in his eighth appearance.
- Shimko holds a 0.00 ERA through his first three career appearances, knocking down seven total strikeouts in 4.1 innings.
- Ranking fourth in the NCAA in the stat, the Sharks were held without a double play for the second consecutive game – only the third time missing a double play in back-to-back games.
- The heavy lead allowed for some new faces to make some appearances, including a career-first center field appearance for Pedro Martinez, Jr. and a second base appearance for Christian Leone
- In the past five games, the Sharks have produced two shutouts and held opponents under two runs four times.
DIRECT FROM HEAD COACH LAZ GUTIERREZ
Hear from coach @DrLaz1 about the Sharks’ weekend-opening shutout of American International. #PrepareToDominate We>Me🦈⚾ pic.twitter.com/2kXmYyBsui— NSU Baseball (@NSU_Baseball) March 7, 2020
UP NEXT
A busy non-conference weekend at home continues for the Sharks on Saturday afternoon, hosting Concordia (N.Y.) at 1:00 p.m. at the NSU Baseball Complex. The Sharks will close out the week with a 1:30 p.m. matchup on Sunday Assumption College.
To stay up with all the latest with Sharks baseball., follow us on Twitter @NSU_Baseball, on Instagram @NSU_Baseball and on Facebook /NSUBaseball.
