Spartan shorts

By ROD GIPSON

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 20, 2001

TAMPA -- Despite being the nation's No. 1 team in Division II and going 18-2 during its past 20 games, the baseball team has not guaranteed itself the Sunshine State Conference title yet.

The Spartans are 36-5 and 9-2 in the conference while rival Florida Southern is 28-10 and 9-3 in the conference.

Barry and Saint Leo are not out of the hunt yet with 11-4 records. And a tough season-ending schedule could make things interesting for the Spartans, who despite not wrapping up the conference are all but assured of a regional tournament berth.

Today, UT begins a three-game weekend series against Barry. Next weekend, the Spartans play three against No. 18 Saint Leo before a May 4-5 three-game showdown with No. 8 Florida Southern.

If that's not enough to possibly shake up the conference and regional standings, UT ends its regular season May 12-13 in Jacksonville playing No. 2 North Florida.

SOFTBALL: With shutout wins Wednesday over Florida Tech and two last week against Eckerd, the Spartans gained sole possession of first place in the conference for the first time in school history.

With 6-0 and 5-0 wins over the Panthers and a 5-0 and 1-0 wins over the Tritons, UT improved to 15-5 in the conference and 28-13 overall. The wins also tied the school record for wins in a season.

Lynn and Florida Southern, meanwhile, remain in second and third place, respectively, at 14-6 and 14-7.

Freshman outfielder Kritin Abbott continues to lead the Spartans offensively with a .351 average, 18 runs scored and 39 hits. She also is third on the team in triples with three and is sixth in the SSC in batting.

MEN'S GOLF: The Spartans finished sixth at the Southeastern Collegiate tournament with Matt Freeman leading the way with rounds of 79-79-80.

Florida Southern placed first with a 874 while Rollins placed second. Lynn, Eckerd and Barry placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Freeman placed 16th while teammates Ryo Ishiguao, Brett McNamara, Todd Means and Michael Sowerby placed among the top 30.

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