Box Score
LAKE WALES, Fla.- #13 Warner University’s baseball team defeated the #1 ranked NCAA-II Florida Southern College 9-5 on Tuesday April 7, 2009. The Royals, who are first place in The Sun Conference, improve to 28-12 and remain 12-3 in conference play. The Moccasins, who were on a 12-game win streak, drop to 31-6 and are 11-1 in the Sunshine State Conference.
The Mocs took the early lead scoring a run in the second inning. Zach Maggard reached base by an error. Andrew Grutka drove in Maggard with a two-out double. The Royals answered back in the bottom half of the second taking the lead with a two-run inning. Nick Polston drew a walk, and then stole second base. An error put Shane Ynclan on first and moved Polston to third. Jason Griffin drew a walk to load the bases for the Royals. Tyler Richardson hit a single scoring Polston from third and squaring the game at one run. Casey Torrance followed with a single to score Ynclan, giving the Royals a 2-1 lead.
The Royals tacked on three more runs in the bottom half of the fourth inning. Torrance drew a walk and stole second base putting him in scoring position with one out. Cory Johnson hit a double, scoring Torrance. Dan Smith followed the Johnson’s double by blasting a long homerun over the 400 sign on the center field wall.
The Royals took a 5-1 lead into the top half of the fifth inning where the Mocs put together three singles to load the bases. With two-outs, Colin Kaline doubled to put up two more runs for the Mocs, and to cut the lead to two-runs. The Royals offense had a response and almost immediately had both runs back. Polston drew his second walk of the game to led off the bottom half. Griffin came up to bat with one out and Polston on second base, after advancing on a passed ball. The Mocs pitcher, Ryan Wolfe, put the ball in a spot Griffin liked as he belted a two-run shot deep over the left-center wall.
The Royals defense put up a zero in the top half of the sixth to allow their hot offense a chance to plate some more runs. The Royals put up two more runs in the bottom half of the sixth, scoring multiple runs for a third straight inning. Ryan Carnley reached base knocking a single and Polston drew his third walk of the game. Ynclan followed suit drawing a walk of his own to again load the bases for the Royals. After the Mocs changed pitchers, Richardson drew a walk to give the Royals their first run of the inning. Torrance followed Richardson’s at-bat with another walk, scoring the final run of the innings for the Royals. A.J. Szatkowski, the Mocs pitcher, induced a line-out from Jed Yancey to minimize the damage and leave three runners stranded.
Down 9-3, the Mocs put up a run in the top half of the seventh inning after two singles and a Robbie Sheields two-out double plated the run. The Royals offense was held to zero runs in the bottom half of the seventh. Neither team scored a run in the eighth inning, as the Royals took a 9-4 lead going into the ninth.
With two outs in the ninth, Shield hit a single and later scored after a Nick Stanley double. The Royals recorded the final out to secure the 9-5 win.
Johnson, Smith, and Richardson each had two hits in the game for the Royals. Polston went 1-for-2 at the plate with three walks and three runs scored. Smith, Richardson, Torrance and Griffin each had two RBIs.
Gary Kott picked up the win as the Royals starting pitcher. Kott threw two innings and had two strikeouts, no walks, surrendering one run on two hits. Ryan Ruble threw four innings of relief work striking out four, surrendering two walks, and two runs on eight hits. Blake Lott threw 2/3 of an inning striking out, no walks, and allowed one run on two hits. Jose Cabrera pitched the final 2 1/3 innings. Cabrera struck out one, allowed no walks, and gave up one run on four hits.
The Royals, who have won 18 of their previous 22 competitions, build on their momentum as they travel to conference opponent Savannah College of Art and Design on Friday April 10, 2009.