Tampa Sweeps Three-Game Series, Ship Drops Fifth-Straight

TAMPA, Fla. - Despite holding a 4-1 lead after 5 1/2 innings, the Shippensburg University baseball team could not stop a late rally by the University of Tampa and dropped their fifth-straight, losing 8-6 on Saturday afternoon at Sam Bailey Field. The Red Raiders surrendered seven runs in the final three innings.
 
With the scored tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh, Roberto Valiente cleared the bases with a three-RBI double, propelling the Spartans (20-3) to its 13th-straight win. Tampa, ranked No. 4 in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper NCAA Division II poll this week, took all three games of the weekend series.
 
Sophomore Jared Boger (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) hit a two-run home run in the eighth for Shippensburg (9-8), scoring junior Eric Perlozzo (Cumberland, Md./Bishop Walsh) to cut the Tampa to lead to one run, 7-6, but the Red Raiders were shutout in the ninth.
 
The Spartans' Aaron Cook, who entered the game in the eighth following the home run by Boger, retired four of the five batters he faced to earn his second save of the series and his fifth of the season.
 
Boger finished the game going 4-for-5 with four RBI and two runs scored while sophomore Scott Goss (Johnstown, Pa./Westmont Hilltop) was 2-for-5 with an RBI and run scored. Boger hit a solo homer in the fifth, giving Shippensburg a 2-1 lead before a RBI-single in the sixth extended the lead to 4-1.
 
Chris Whitney picked up his second win for Tampa, despite allowing three runs and five hits in 2 2/3 innings. Nick Erdman (Leola, Pa./Conestoga Valley) suffered the loss for the Red Raiders, giving up seven runs on 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings.
 
Shippensburg returns home from its Spring Break trip to Florida, having posted a 3-6 record in the "Sunshine State." The team is scheduled to play West Chester University on Tuesday in its home opener. First pitch at Fairchild Field is at 3:00 p.m.

- Red Raider Baseball -