LAKELAND, Fla. – Barry University’s baseball team lost a pair of games Saturday in Lakeland against Florida Southern College, 6-3 and 2-0.
Game One
Barry (17-10, 4-5 SSC) scored first in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead on a two-out RBI single to left off the bat of Mike Diaz.
Tim Blackmon belted his second homerun of the season, a solo-shot in the fourth, to give Barry a 2-0 lead. The following inning, Tyler Kellmann lined a ball towards the left-center gap for another two-out RBI hit that put Barry up 3-0.
Freshman Billy Atkins (2-3) got the nod in game one and cruised through the first five innings, facing the minimum through four. The right-hander ran into a bit of trouble in the sixth when the Mocs pushed four runs across to take a 4-3 lead.
Florida Southern (11-11, 6-0 SSC) added a run in the seventh and another in the eighth to stretch the lead and the Bucs were unable to mount another comeback as they fell 6-3.
Atkins allowed four runs in six innings and finished with 6 K’s. He struck out the side in the bottom of the first to begin the game.
Michael Diaz led the Bucs with a 2-for-4 performance.
Game Two
The Bucs sent t senior Kevin Youst to the mound in the series finale and the Plantation, Fla. native delivered another strong performance.
In the bottom of the first the Mocs were able to scratch a run across to take a 1-0 lead. They threatened in the third inning with runners on the corners and only one out, but Youst retired the next two hitters to keep the deficit at just one run.
Once again in the fifth inning Florida Southern kept the pressure on Youst and the Buccaneer defense with the first two batters reaching safely but three groundball outs later the threat was over.
Barry’s offense struggled to find opportunities to score runs in the nightcap as the Bucs were held to just four hits.
Youst (2-3) tossed six innings and allowed just two runs and finished with a pair of K’s.
Luis Arrizurieta finished 2-for-3 to lead the Bucs offensively.
Barry returns to action on Tuesday at Feinbloom field where they’ll step out of conference play to battle the Sailfish of Palm Beach Atlantic University. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. with live-stat and video broadcast available through the Barry University athletics website, GOBARRYBUCS.COM.