Colleges

UT still positive after SSC losses

By DAVID NORRIE
Published April 6, 2005

The University of Tampa fell three spots to No. 7 in the Division II Collegiate Baseball poll.

The fall came after the Spartans dropped a doubleheader to Florida

Southern on Saturday at Sam Bailey Field and another game at Florida Southern on Monday. The Moccasins (29-5, 5-4), who lost Game 1 of the weekend series to Tampa, jumped one spot to No. 4.

The setback marked the Spartans' (28-9, 9-3) first Sunshine State Conference losses of the season but coach Joe Urso is keeping a positive outlook. "As bad as we feel dropping three out of four, the bottom line is that our first goal this season was to win the conference and right now we're still in first," Urso said. With 20 new players on this season's roster and a new starting pitching rotation, the expectations surrounding Tampa at the start of the season were conservative. An 18-game win streak that began in February and lasted almost all of March, plus a brief ranking as the No. 1 team in the country, raised the bar.

With UT holding a three-game lead over second place Nova Southeastern in the conference, Urso is confident the team can rebound and achieve the stated goal, an SSC title.

"(Florida Southern) is a tremendous team that came into the series very hot," he said. "But it's one series. We saw signs of what we can do when we're hot so we're making sure the kids don't get down on themselves.

"They exceeded so many of our expectations early on. We just have to kick back and say we're still dealing with a lot of new players, many of them young, so things aren't going to be that smooth all year."

Urso is pleased with the emergence of second-year pitcher Sergio Perez and Pasco-Hernando Community College transfer Lee Cruz.

Perez earned his league-leading eighth win, going the distance in Friday's 5-1 win over Southern. On Monday he was named SSC pitcher of the week with Saint Leo's Ronnie Lowe. Against Southern, the Spartans right-hander scattered three hits, struck out six and retired nine consecutive batters. It was his first complete game of the season. Cruz was one of three UT athletes named to the SSC commissioner's list for outstanding achievement for March, putting together one of the most impressive offensive efforts in school history. In 19 games he batted .368, belted nine home runs, drove in 35 runs and scored 24. He had a slugging percentage of .816 and 14 of his 28 hits went for extra bases. "Offense was a big reason we brought Lee in," Urso said. "We knew he would contribute, but not to this magnitude. He has exceeded out expectations."

Honored with Cruz were men's golfer Brian Ward and women's tennis player Heather Eli.

Ward, also named SSC men's golfer of the week, placed second at the Webber Invitational (March 14-15) and tied for second two weeks later at the Nova Southeastern Spring Invitational (73, 73, 71) where he was one of only six in a 41-person field to shoot an under-par round.

Eli went 8-0 in singles matches for March and 5-3 in doubles. She was named SSC women's tennis player of the week March 14. SOFTBALL SWEEP: Devlin Dougherty pitched all three games in a weekend sweep of Eckerd College, boosting her record to 7-9. She gave up just one run in 16 innings, improving her ERA to 1.34.

Katie Bender hit her team leading third home run of the season against the Tritons on Saturday, a two-run blast.

Tampa (15-16, 7-11) is sixth in the SSC .

[Last modified April 6, 2005, 01:07:18]