The University of Tampa Spartans proved to the conference why they are the favorite to take the SSC crown.
Receiving 15 of 16 first place votes in the preseason poll, Tampa easily is the favorite to win. Florida Tech came into the Feb. 3 night game with a 2-0 record and a fourth place preseason conference ranking.
Prior to the game head coach Joe Urso expressed confidence in his returning stars as well as the newcomers.
‘The guys have played so many practice games against themselves,’ Urso said, ‘they are just ready to get out here and get some outside competition.’
During the offseason the Spartans were not resting whatsoever. Countless hours were spent in the weight room and on the field.
‘I’m really excited for the guys,’ Urso said, ‘They have worked really hard on the field and in the weight room.’
The Panthers were only able to hold down the Spartans for two innings. In the third UT took advantage of a three-error inning by the Panthers. Transfer junior Correy Figueroa led off with a single.’ Senior Jesus Barroso followed behind him with an RBI triple. A throw into Tampa’s dugout brought Barroso around to score. UT added another run in the inning to make it 3-0. Following the three run third, UT starter Josh Bowman gave up a solo home run to Florida Tech. With a 7 run fourth inning the Spartans put the game away.
Sophomore Jared Simon finished the game 4-for-4 and led off the inning with a homerun.
‘I was real pleased.’ said Urso. ‘ It’s the first night and you never know what your players are going to do.’
A solo homerun by Steven Broschofsky took the game its final score of 11-1.
Thomas Meagher tossed three scoreless innings for the Spartans. Danney Keefe and Alex Koronis also tossed one scoreless inning apiece.
‘We weren’t really sharp early on,’ said Urso, ‘but we settled in pretty good our second time through our lineup. We did real well.’
The head coach was overall very pleased with the performance of his men.
Kyle Bennett can be reached at kbennett@ut.edu.
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