Sports Lowdown

Reid Neal - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Nova Southeastern Sharks showed why they are the defending NCAA Division II baseball champions on Sunday, completing a doubleheader sweep of the Florida Tech Panthers, winning game two, 11-6. Following a 7-6 win in game one , the Sharks found themselves down early in game two. only to fight back and take the lead late. Florida Tech followed their 14-hit barrage in game one, with 12 more in game two, but it wasn’t enough. Florida Tech (27-19, 11-9 SSC) got to NSU starter Jonny Ortiz in the top of the second inning. Nick Capra doubled and later scored on a single by Vincenzo Catanza . The lead was short-lived, as the Sharks jumped on Andy Marzheuser in the bottom of the frame. Michael Hernandez and Dylan Woods each hit two-run home runs, quickly giving the home team a 4-1 lead. To the Panthers credit, much like they did in game one, they would fight back in the top of the third.   Reid Neal , John Sternag...

Nick Capra - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Panthers came up one hit short of sweeping a doubleheader at Andy Seminick-Les Hall Field on Friday. Instead, the Panthers had to settle for a split with the Embry-Riddle Eagles, winning game one 7-2 and dropping game two in 10 innings, 6-5. FIT was led by Vincenzo Catanza’s 4-for-4 day in game one. Nick Capra chipped in with a three-hit day. They had half of the Panthers 14 hits in that opening game. Grant Willcoxon (3-2) shut Embry-Riddle out through the first five innings, while Eagles starter Aidan Brady matched zeros for three innings, did not allow a run and only gave up three hits before giving way to Austin Lee to start the fourth. That’s when the Panthers offense got going. Dan Szpik reached on an error to start the inning, he moved to third on a single off the bat of Capra. David Wilson grounded out, scoring Szpik with the first run of the day. Ryan Sinzenich followed with an RBI sin...

Reid Neal - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography Following their 10-2 win on Friday , highlighted by a grand slam off the bat of Reid Neal , the Panthers continued their power surge on Saturday, with a sweep of a doubleheader. Florida Tech won game one, 9-4, helped by another Neal slam and they took game two, 5-3, with the decisive home run off the bat of Dan Szpik . David Wilson had home runs in both games. In game one, Barry jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, when Julian Abreu took FIT starter Tyler Deel over the right field wall, on a 1-0 pitch. In the top of the second, Florida Tech tied the game when Grant McKown took a 3-2 pitch from Barry starter Luis Deville, tying the game at one. That brought Neal to the plate and he wasted no time, drilling an 0-1 pitch over the wall in left-center, giving the Panthers a 5-1 lead. Szpik made a great diving catch in the bottom of the third, but a Justin Lamazares double and an error made it a 5-2 gam...

David Wilson had two of the Panthers four hits on Tuesday - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography After taking two of three games over the weekend at home, the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish got another win over Florida Tech on Tuesday, beating the Panthers 7-1, at Andy Seminick-Les Hall Field. Tuesday’s game was a regional matchup, but it was a game the Panthers needed to win, after dropping the weekend series. Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t put much together, getting just four hits against Sailfish pitching. The Panthers (14-11) had chances, with the Sailfish hurlers giving up 11 free passes. The problem for the Panthers was that they couldn’t push any of them across, leaving 13 on base. Florida Tech starter Grant Willcoxon had an up and down night over his five innings of work. He gave up seven hits and struck out seven, with only one of his three runs being earned. The first two runs he allowed in the second inning, were unearned, thanks to a fielding e...

Reid Neal - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Southern Moccasins put Florida Tech behind the eight ball in Sunshine State Conference play, sweeping the three-game weekend series, highlighted by a doubleheader sweep on Saturday, at Andy Seminick-Les Hall Field. Following their 3-0 win on Friday in the series opener , the Mocs took game one on Saturday, 3-2 and won a high-scoring game two, 12-8. Tyler Deel got the start for Florida Tech in game one and pitched well for six innings, despite giving up a leadoff home run to Cody Burgess to start the proceedings. That run held until the bottom of the fourth, when Dan Szpik and Ryan Sinzenich started the frame with back-to-back singles against Florida Southern starter Jake Walsh, Nick Capra reached on fielder’s choice, loading the bases. James Gronberg then grounded out to first, getting the run home and tying the game. Florida Tech got their first lead of the night in the bottom of the fifth. The...

Grant McKown went 3-for-5 on Tuesday - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Panthers got a big 10-6 victory on Tuesday, against the number 22 Catawba Indians in a Division II baseball clash. The Indians came into the game averaging 10 runs a game and hitting .356 as a team. Panthers starting pitcher Grant Willcoxon held them at bay for the first four innings. “I thought our starting pitching did a great job of setting the tone and executing some quality pitches,” said Panthers coach Greg Berkemeier. "We did a good job of controlling the top of the lineup there. Those guys can really hit. It’s a credit to our staff.” Florida Tech (13-5) got out of the gates quickly, tagging Indians starter Bryan Ketchie for five runs in the first inning. Reid Neal singled with one out and went to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run by Grant McKown . Daniel Szpik and Ryan Sinzenich hit back-to-back RBI singles and Nick Capra was hit by a pitch to load t...

Nick Capra - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech baseball team dropped their second game of the season on Wednesday, as Flagler came up with 11 runs in last four innings, en route to a 14-5 victory. Florida Tech (6-2) got some early offense with two runs in the bottom of the first against Flagler starter Louis Pugliese. John Sternagel singled to lead off the inning and later scored on an error. Daniel Szpik grounded out, scoring Reid Neal , who singled earlier in the inning. That gave Florida Tech an early 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first. The lead was short-lived, as the Saints (7-1) came back with two more runs in the top of the second, courtesy of a Dylan Jones two-run double against Panthers starter Grant Willcoxon . That gave the visitors a 3-2 advantage. The Panthers tied things up in the bottom of the frame, thanks to a Nick Capra homer to lead things off. Zac Orchard then walked and stole second. He moved to third one out later, o...

After two come-from-behind victories on Friday against Mississippi College, the Florida Tech baseball team was back at it Saturday, taking one of two games and improving to 3-1 overall in 2017. The Panthers rolled to an 11-2 triumph in game one, keeping the Choctaws offense in check until the bottom of the ninth inning. Game two was won by the home team, 9-4. Florida Tech hurler Tyler Deel came out firing in game one, allowing four hits and striking out seven, in seven innings of work. Grant Willcoxon pitched the final two innings, giving up two hits and two runs, with only one being earned. It didn’t matter at that point, because the Panthers offense had already put the game away. James Gronberg started the scoring in the top of the fourth. He reached on a fielder’s choice, allowing Daniel Szpik , who singled earlier, to score. Gronberg later stole second and scored on a Nick Capra ground out, giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead. Capra, who drove in the winning run in ...