April 30, 2008

Box Score

Tampa, Fla. - José Lozada was 4-for-5 at the plate including a homerun to push Bethune-Cookman University past the University of South Florida, 10-3 on Wednesday night in a non-conference baseball contest at Red McEwen Field in Tampa, Fla.

After dropping a month's worth of midweek contests, B-CU (30-17) is back in full gear as they were in the beginning of the year ... injury free, and looking to roll into the upcoming Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament as the three-time defending champs. And they look every part the champs of old, if not better.

Junior pitcher Chris Chapman toed the rubber on Wednesday for the Wildcats and he was a stud--as preseason reports predicted, as he limited the Bulls of USF (25-21) to just three runs on seven hits in six frames on the bump. He evened his record at 2-2 on the campaign.

The Maroon and Gold jumped out on top first with two runs in the top of the second inning. Senior Neal Jones singled to start the frame, and sophomore outfielder Justin Hoyte brought him home with a RBI single through the right side. Hoyte would touch home plate with the help of Patrick Jones' single to left field. That allowed the `Cats to lead 2-0 going into the bottom of the second.

The Bulls answered with a run of their own in that bottom-half as Brian Hobbs double to right center and came around to score with Charles Cleveland's single to center, cutting the B-CU advantage to 2-1.

The deficit could get bigger in the third, however, as senior shortstop José Lozada blasted his sixth homer of the year over the right field wall to put the Maroon and Gold back up by two runs, 3-1.

After USF scored a run in the fourth, B-CU widened their lead again in the top of the fifth with two more runs.

Lozada collected another of his game-high four hits in the game with a RBI single to bring in José Ortiz who started off the frame with a single of his. For Ortiz, it was his only hit of the game. Lozada later scored after stealing third, and then advancing across with an error charged to the USF infield.

B-CU led 5-2 after five innings away.

The two teams traded runs in the sixth before B-CU nailed the door shut with four runs in the top of the seventh.

Relief pitchers Stephen Hunt and Shawn Sanford each traded turns on the mound, but the Maroon and Gold express from Daytona Beach was just too much in the inning.

Lozada singled and came around to score as Neal Jones collected a run-scoring double for the first run of the frame. Freshman third baseman Emmanuel Castro pulled his second triple of the year moments later to score first baseman Osvaldo Torres and Jones on the play.

B-CU scored their final run in the inning as catcher Drew Clark collected a sacrifice fly to left that plated Castro for the final, 10-3 margin in favor of the Wildcats.

Chapman was great on the hill for the Wildcats, but the relief efforts of Felix Machado and Hiram Burgos were tremendous as well. The two allowed four hits over the final three innings with four strikeouts and zero (0) walks.

USF's Zach Pietrzyk took the loss to fall to 2-2 as well. Pietrzyk went just 4.1 innings for the Bulls, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits.

B-CU was led tonight by Lozada with a 4-for-5 showing, as well as Neal Jones, Justin Hoyte and Patrick Jones with two hits apiece as well. Castro added two RBI for the Wildcats.

B-CU will now prepare for their final conference series of the year this weekend at Delaware State in Dover, Del. The Wildcats have already clinched the regular season MEAC crown, but the perfect 18-0 record still looms ... and they would be the only team in MEAC history to accomplish the feat.

As for the DSU Hornets, they sit at second place in the league, and could solidify that position going into the conference tournament with two wins against the Wildcats. Anything less could force the Hornets to as low as fourth place. To put it plainly, this is a huge weekend for the league standings ... and all eyes will be on the DSU vs. B-CU series.

Live stats for all games will be available through Game Tracker at www.BCCathletics.com.