BOCA RATON, Fla. – Although a sweep was within reach, Lynn University's baseball team will gladly accept taking the Sunshine State Conference series against Eckerd with a 8-9, 8-3 doubleheader split on Sunday. Cory Elasik smacked his second home run in three games, Alex Freedman, Ryan Lashley and Sal Giardina went deep and Kentrail Pierce earned his team-leading sixth victory on the mound. Lynn improves to 24-13 overall and 8-4 in the SSC.
The Fighting Knights bats would energize the team in the second contest after dropping a close first game, scoring six runs in the first two innings of play. Lashley opened the scoring for LU with a solo home run to left field, his team-best sixth of the season.
Mike Gonzalez, who went 2-for-3 in the afternoon match-up, made it 2-0 in the second with a RBI single to left field. The Blue & White then blew it open when Elasik smacked his third home run of the season, a grand slam, over the fence in right field, to put Lynn on top 6-0.
Kentrail Pierce (6-2) was his usual self despite battling the flu, fanning seven batters and allowing only two hits in four shutout innings.
Giardina added to the Fighting Knights run total in the fourth, with his fifth home run of the year, a solo shot to right center. An RBI triple by Jason Matusik in the sixth capped Lynn's scoring.
The Fighting Knights relief pitching, though, had its troubles on Sunday. In six innings of work, seven pitchers combined to allow seven runs on 15 hits. Lynn's defense did not provide much help either, as four of Eckerd's nine runs in the first game were unearned.
Lynn grabbed an early 3-0 lead over the Tritons (14-19, 2-13 SSC) after Freedman hit a solo home run and Giardina drove home two with a two-out double just inside the first base line. Eckerd responded with two runs in the third but LU answered back with a pair in the fourth off an Elasik RBI single and double-steal at home.
The Tritons took advantage of a key error in the seventh to score four runs and grab a 6-5 lead then padded that total when Adam Moreau hit a two-run home run in the eighth. Lynn was able to add two more in the home half from Paul Stortini and Joey Sharkey but again the LU defense could not hold strong, committing two more errors in the ninth, the last of which would have ended the inning but instead allowed the game-winning run.
Lynn had one more chance to knot the game up when Jason Matusik doubled to score one run while putting runners on second and third but Kyle Harding struck out the final batter with the tying run 90 feet away.
The Fighting Knights are back in action on Wednesday, April 10, at 3 p.m. when they host Florida Memorial. Fans can catch the action live at LynnFightingKnights.com and receive in-game updates by following @LUKnights on Twitter and Instagram.
