ST. AUGUSTINE – No. 2 (
Collegiate Baseball News Top 30) University of Tampa scored 27 runs on 30 hits in a doubleheader sweep of No. 17 Flagler College, 11-4 and 16-3, at Drysdale Field on Saturday.
Tampa improved to 11-4 on the season while Flagler fell to 14-5.
J.D. Osborne had a perfect day for the Spartans as he went 8-for-8 with three doubles, two home runs, nine runs batted in and he scored five runs in total for both games. Tampa hit .385 and hit six doubles as well as six home runs.
In the opener, Tampa did not wait long to jump on Flagler starter
Dustin Dye (1-2). Kevin Santa, the second batter of the game, belted a two-run home run to right field. Later in the inning, Connor Crile hit a two-run single to stake the Spartans to a 4-0 lead.
Osborne hit a run-scoring single in the second to give Tampa a 5-0 lead.
Trailing 7-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Flagler broke through as
Jason Moore hit a two-run double to center and he scored on
Ethan Crout's single down the left field line. Crout scored on a ground out.
Osbrone's three-run home run in the sixth gave a Tampa a commanding 10-4 lead.
David LeBron (2-0) tossed six innings, scattered four hits and allowed four runs to earn the victory.
Osborne finished 5-for-5 with two doubles and a home run. He drove in five runs and scored two more.
Dye tossed two innings and allowed five hits and six runs. He walked three and fanned two.
Dante Pagano,
Nick Martinez and
Ethan Jones all saw time on the hill in relief.
Moore hit a pair of doubles, scored a run and knocked in two more.
In the second game, Tampa erupted for five runs in the third inning. The Spartans sent nine men to the plate and it all started with a lead-off home run by Chris Gaffney. Back-to-back RBI singles by Santa and Osborne helped the Spartans take a 5-0 lead.
The Saints got two runs back in the bottom of the third. The first came on
Dylan Jones' RBI double and then he scored on a ground out.
That's all Flagler could muster off Tampa starter Christian Calleja (1-0). He tossed six innings, scattered three hits and allowed two runs. Calleja induced 10 ground outs and five fly outs.
Darren Miller hit a pair of two-run home runs, the first coming in the fifth inning. Osborne hit a two-run shot of his own in the seventh, and Miller's second came in the eighth. Miller finished the game going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI.
Osborne went 3-for-4, a triple shy of the cycle, scored three runs and knocked in four more.
Cooper Wallace (3-1) tossed 3 1/3 innings and he surrendered eight hits as well as six earned runs.
Ryan Ashworth,
Louis Pugliese and
MacLain Larson saw time in relief.
Jones went 2-for-4 with the double, a run scored and one run batted in.
Igor Baez singled twice.
Flagler takes on Valdosta State University on Wednesday (March 8) at 5 p.m. at Valdosta, Georgia.