SAINT LEO, Fla. – No. 12 Saint Leo baseball was unable to hold off the visiting No. 20 Nova Southeastern Sharks Friday night to open up the Sunshine State Conference series at Thomas B. Southard Stadium. The Lions scattered 11 hits on the night while committing four errors, falling to the Sharks 10-6.
The Lions (26-6, 9-4 SSC) tied things up in the fifth inning after back-to-back jacks from
Zach Scott and
Brett Coffel. Saint Leo came into the inning trailing 6-3 before Scott's two-run dinger to right center followed by Coffel's solo shot to left field.
Saint Leo left runners on in the seventh inning and failed to get a runner aboard in the eighth and ninth where the Sharks were able to score in the top of the seventh for the go-ahead run, 7-6 before tacking on three more in the top of the ninth.
Nova Southeastern retired the side in the bottom of the ninth to win the opening game of the series behind Andrew Liberty's cycle performance from the plate. Liberty finished the night 4-for-5 with at-bats as follows: double, fly out, single, home run, triple.
Jordan Pendleton got the nod for the Green and Gold and received the no decision after 5.1 innings of work. Pendleton struck out three batters while allowing eight hits and six runs, one earned on the night.
Drew Tumbelty came in and went 2.2 innings and suffered his first loss of the season, now standing at 4-1. Tumbelty recorded two strikeouts before exiting for
Joey Antonopoulos, who tossed the final inning of work allowing two hits and one run.
Chase Turner went 3-for-5 from the plate to lead the Lions, ahead of
Amir Wright,
Zach Scott and
Aaron Portee who all went 2-for-4.
Jared Morello and
Brett Coffel tacked on a hit themselves. Scott scored a team-best two runs with a team leading three RBI with his two home runs.
Up Next …
Saint Leo and Nova Southeastern return to the diamond at 2 pm for game two of the Sunshine State Conference series at Thomas B. Southard Stadium.
For more on the Saint Leo baseball program, visit SaintLeoLions.com. Also, be sure to 'Like' the Lions on Facebook and 'Follow' Saint Leo Athletics on Twitter and Instagram.