TAMPA, Fla. – Lynn scored six unanswered runs but ultimately fell to Mississippi College 13-9 in its first game of the NCAA South 1 Regional on Thursday.
Bryant Zayas went 3-for-4 with a triple and home run, while
Jesse Robinson and
David Judge also had three hits. SSC Player of the Year
Cole Fowler smacked his 19
th home run of the year in the loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Mississippi College struck early in the first inning, utilizing a Lynn miscue to spark a 3-0 lead by the end of the frame
- The Fighting Knights rallied in the second, loading the bases on three-straight walks before scoring on a sacrifice fly by
Amaris Harrison
- The Choctaws took a similar approach in the bottom of the second, adding a run on a sacrifice fly to retake their three-run cushion, 4-1
- Lynn responded in the third as
Leon Paulino laced a triple down the line to score
Shawn Dougherty and cut the Choctaw's lead to two, 4-2
-
Ivan Herrera closed out the frame with an RBI single to bring the Blue and White within one by the end of the inning, 4-3
- Mississippi College racked up seven runs on six hits in the bottom of the frame to take an 11-3 lead
-
Bryant Zayas responded quickly, opening the fourth inning with a two-run shot to cut into Mississippi College's lead, 11-5
- The Blue and White capped off the fourth with a total of four runs scored on five hits including an RBI single from
Cole Fowler and an RBI groundout from Paulino for an 11-7 score
- The contest went quiet for a few innings until the top of the sixth where Fowler blasted a lead-off home run to cut the Choctaw's lead down to three
- The Lynn offense continued to chip away as Zayas tripled to right field at the start of the seventh
- Zayas was later sent home on an RBI groundout from
Blake Mayberry to pull Lynn within two runs of the lead, 11-9
- The Choctaws tallied two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to extend their lead out to four, as the final score remained in MC's favor
FIGHTING KNIGHT STATS:
- Lynn batters combined for 15 hits for the 10
th time this season
-
Brad Benton tossed 4.2 inning of relief and allowed just two runs
- Fowler extended his hitting streak to 13 games and now has 120 combined runs and RBI this season
- Zayas has multiple hits in four of his last five games and has raised his average 40 points over the stretch
- Robinson has six hits and six runs scored over his last two games
- Herrera recorded his eighth multi-hit game of the season
- Paulino has driven in multiple runs eight times over his last 11 games
- Judge is hitting .409 (9-for-22) with seven RBI over his five-game hit streak
UP NEXT:
- The NCAA South 1 Regional is a double elimination tournament and No. 5 Lynn will face No. 8 Albany State tomorrow at 1:00 pm
POSTGAME SOUND:
- After the game, Lynn head coach
Rudy Garbalosa said his team has been resilient all season long. "That's one of our strengths – coming back after defeat," Garbalosa stated. "This group really takes it to heart, and they care about each other. I'm anxious to see how we come out tomorrow because our signature this year has been that if we get a loss, we come back and compete really well. I'm looking forward to seeing us compete tomorrow."
NCAA South 1 Regional Page
