AUBURNDALE, FL – University of Mary senior right fielder
Drew Feuerbach homered and drove in a career-high four runs in the Marauders narrow 8-7 loss to Florida Tech. The Marauders never led in the game but always remained within striking distance of the Panthers, the ninth ranked team in the NCBWA South Region poll.
Feuerbach finished the day 2-for-3 with three runs scored. The Omaha, NE, native drove in Mary's first run on a double and lined a 2-run home run in the ninth inning to pull the Marauders within a run.
Connor Doll and
Lane Huck also added a pair of hits for the Marauders (2-4 overall) and
Seth Meide scored twice.
After the Panthers (10-5) scored twice in the first, including a leadoff home run by John Sternagel, the Marauders responded immediately with two in the home half of the inning. Doll singled and took second base when the ball bounced away from the left fielder. After a ground out moved Doll to third, Feuerbach doubled down the left field line to score Doll.
Aggressive baserunning by Feuerbach knotted the game at 2-2. With Feuerbach on second and two outs,
Chris Scott hit a tapper that Panthers second baseman Neal Reid fielded close to the second base bag and flipped to first too late to retire Scott. Off on contact and without breaking stride, Feuerbach rounded third and headed home to cross the plate before Nick Capra's throw home from first arrived at the plate.
The Panthers scored single runs in the second, fifth and sixth innings. The Marauders responded in the sixth, parlaying three walks into a run. A Huck run-scoring single then plated Scott for the second run in the sixth to close the gap to 5-4.
Florida Tech wasted no time expanding its lead, scoring three timed in the seventh. Two bunt hits and a bloop single led to the first run before Neal doubled home the final two runs.
Making more use of Panthers pitcher's wildness, two walks led to a sacrifice fly from Feuerbach to score
Seth Meide, closing within 8-5.
Needing three runs to keep playing, Meide reached on an error to open the ninth. With two outs, Feuerbach hit his first home run of the season but his 2-run shot to left was all Mary could manage.
Nick Stobbe took a tough loss for Mary. The senior righthander struck out four and allowed three earned runs in 5.2 innings.
Kenny Slominski and
Cory Dixon both pitched scoreless innings.
Tyler Deel earned the win for Florida Tech. He allowed three earned runs and struck out seven in five innings of work. Luke Lorah gave up one hit in three innings for the save, allowing two unearned runs.
Neal was 3-for-3 with a home run, three RBIs and a run scored for FIT. James Gronberg had three hits and Sternagel was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs.
The Marauders next face Walsh University on March 5 in Auburndale, FL.
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