Tampa?s Ninth Inning Rally Falls Short Against Catawba

Box score

TAMPA, Fla. - The #1 University of Tampa (6-2) baseball team couldn't erase a sloppy eighth inning and fell to the Catawba Indians (5-4) by the score of 6-5.

Catawba starter, Paul Link, was able to get the first two Tampa batters out in the first inning, but gave up back-to-back singles to Ryan Kennedy and Jose Jimenez. Roberto Mena then doubled down the left field line, driving in Kennedy and giving the Spartans an early 1-0 lead.

The Indians were set down in order in the first, as Tampa's John Wiedenbauer struck out the side. It looked like Wiedenbauer was going to get out of the second unscathed as well but with Ryan Query on second with two outs, Travis McSweeney somehow kept the ball inside the third base line for an RBI double, tying the game at one.

Wiedenbauer left the game with the bases loaded and two out in the fifth inning. He was replaced by Ross Jackson, who gave up a two run single to Jerry Sands and the Indians took a 3-1 lead.

Wiedenbauer left the game with 4.2 innings pitched, and six strikeouts.

Tampa grabbed one run in the bottom of the fifth. Charlie Raley led off with a single to right and later scored the team's second run on Kennedy's RBI groundout.

Troy Ferguson hit a ball through the right side tying the game as Raley scored his second run of the game.

Two Mena errors led to three Catawba runs in the top of the eighth, putting the Spartans in a 6-3 hole that wouldn't be able to overcome.

Tampa made a run for it in the bottom of the ninth with two runs of their own, but was unable to get the third run across, and fell 6-5.

For the first time in his career, Ross Jackson (0-1) took the loss for Tampa, while Paul Link (2-0) earned his second victory. Zach Evans survived the ninth and picked up his second save of the season for the Indians.

Tampa travels to Lynn in south Florida for a three-game non-conference set beginning Friday at 7:00 pm.