Lynn University Fighting Knights

BOCA RATON, Fla.—A day after Lynn University’s baseball team tallied a 4-3 over No. 1 Tampa, head coach Rudy Garbalosa’s crew posted a 1-0 win in game two of Saturday’s doubleheader on the back of Jerad Harvey’s six innings, eight strikeouts, and no runs to capture the Sunshine State Conference series win.

Lynn’s (11-5, 2-1 SSC) Eric Herrera amassed a 4-for-5 day in both games, going 3-for-3 in game one and 1-for-2 in game two. Kyle Radzewski tallied the only run for the Blue & White in game two and also added the only extra base hit of the game for Lynn with a double.

Ryan Gibbard took the hill for the Fighting Knights in game one and through two scoreless innings, Gibbard totaled five strikeouts.

Tampa’s (12-2, 1-2 SSC) first hit against Gibbard came in the third inning on a double by Connor Obrochta down the left field line. The Spartans added two more hits in the frame with three runs to grab a 3-0 lead.

The Spartans posted one more run in the fourth and another in the fifth to end Gibbard’s day in the top of the sixth. Gibbard went five innings, allowed eight hits and six runs with six strikeouts and two walks. 

Jason Whalen came in to relive Gibbard and tossed two and two-thirds innings with four hits and allowing three more Spartan runs.

Dan Piturro collected the final out of the eighth inning for Lynn but the Spartans had already amassed a 9-0 advantage by that point.

Ted Quinn made his first appearance of the season in the top of the ninth and allowed four this and two more runs as Tampa routed the Knights by an 11-0 margin.

Harvey received his second start of the season in the game-three rubber match of the series. Minutes after the same Spartan lineup totaled 17 hits in game one of the doubleheader, Harvey only allowed five Tampa hits in game two.

Tampa put runners on first and second with one out in the third before Harvey forced Damon Elder to ground into a 4-6-3 double play.

In the bottom half of the third, Radzewski started off the inning with a double to left field then moved to third on an Austin Smith bunt single. Mike Diorio did the job of scoring Radzewski after grounding into a double play to give Lynn the 1-0 advantage.

Both teams posted a scoreless fourth inning, and then in inning number five, Tyler Ding led off for Tampa with a walk and moved to second on a sac bunt. Harvey then forced a groundout and struck out Obrochta to end the threat.

The only other Spartan threat under Harvey’s watch was in the sixth when the junior gave up a two-out single followed by a double. With runners on second and third in a one-run game with two outs, Harvey collected his biggest out of the game with a strikeout of Jake Schrader.

After a scoreless sixth for Lynn, the Knights called on Andre Colon for the save. Colon retired Ding on a ground out to third but then gave up a one-out single to B.J. Zimmerman. Pendleton moved the tying run to second on a slow groundout to Diorio at second base.

With the tying run at second and two outs, Obrochta lined a 1-1 pitch off the back of Colon. Colone was able to recover from the shot, pick up the caromed call and throw Obrochta out at first to end the game and earn his first save of the year.

The Fighting Knights host Southern New Hampshire on Wednesday, March 7, in their next contest at 2:30 p.m. Click on the Game Central logo at LynnFightingKnights.com to access the live audio. Fans can also follow the game live on Twitter @LUKnights #LUBB.