MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – Barry University’s baseball team defeated the No. 2 ranked Spartans of Tampa in game one of a doubleheader Friday, 5-0, before dropping the series finale 6-5 at Feinbloom field.
Pitching and defense is a recipe for success and that’s exactly what coach Marc Pavao got from the freshman Billy Atkins and the Buccaneers in game one.
Game One
Barry (21-13, 7-8 SSC) jumped out in front with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning on back-to-back RBI hits from Luis Arrizurieta and Adrian English.
In the fifth inning the Bucs tacked on another run on English’s second hit of the ball game, once again driving in Arrizurieta.
Tampa (26-5, 9-3 SSC) had little success against the Bucs’ rookie.
Atkins (4-3) continued to impress and build upon each of his starts. The right-hander tossed his first career complete-game shutout, scattering seven hits in nine innings while holding the Spartans in-check throughout.
The Bucs added runs in the sixth and seventh innings and cruised to a 5-0 victory over the Spartans.
English finished 3-for-4 with 2 RBI to pace the Bucs. Arrizurieta and Michael Diaz each added a pair of hits in the winning effort.
Game Two
In the nightcap it looked promising in the early going that the Bucs would complete the doubleheader sweep after grabbing an early 5-2 lead.
Barry scored three runs in the first inning as the first five hitters reached safely to start the rally. Tyler Kellmann collected an RBI single to left-center and Michael Slabach’s single to right drove in a pair of runs.
Kevin Youst took the hill for the Bucs and tossed 3.2 innings, allowed four runs but left the game with a 5-4 lead.
The Spartans scored four unanswered runs, two in the fifth and two more in the sixth to grab a 6-5 advantage.
Although Barry was able to put the tying run on base in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Bucs were not able to manufacture a run as they fell in the series finale, 6-5.
Tyler Petsch was effective out of the bullpen throwing 2.2 scoreless innings in which he allowed just two hits.
Sheehan Planas-Arteaga finished 3-for-4 with a pair of runs and Michael Slabach also belted three hits and finished with two RBI to lead the Bucs offensively.
Defensively the Bucs played some of their best baseball as they did not commit an error in either game of the doubleheader and turned six double-plays in all. J.C. Cardenas turned a pair of unassisted double-plays in game one behind Atkins.
English, Kellmann, and Cardenas each collected multiple hits for the Buccaneers in the final game of the series.