Justin Ashworth
Justin Ashworth

No. 1 Tampa Uses Pair of 5-Run Innings to Top Bentley, 16-2

TAMPA, Fla. – Senior infielder Cody deNoyelles (Windemere, Fla.) homered and drove in three runs  as the University of Tampa, the defending NCAA Division II national champions, used an 18-hit attack to defeat Bentley University, 16-2, in college baseball action Saturday night at the UT Baseball Field.

The Spartans grabbed control early, erupting for five runs in the bottom of the second inning, and wound up scoring in six of the eight innings they went to the plate.

In the second, Tampa (2-0) received RBI singles from senior DH Mitchell Preston (Wall, N.J.) and junior right fielder Danny Lee (Sarasota, Fla.) to go up 2-0. Junior first baseman Adrian Chacon (Tampa, Fla.) followed with a two-run bases-loaded  single to left, and junior second baseman Laz Rivera (Miami, Fla.) completed the scoring with an RBI single, also to left.

Rivera and deNoyelles picked up RBIs in the fourth, and the Spartans broke it open with five in the fifth. That inning featured a two-run double by Santa and a pair of unearned runs.

Bentley scored its only runs of the night in the ninth. Junior shortstop Justin Ashworth (Orange, Conn./Amity Regional HS) led off with a double and scored on a pair of Tampa errors on the next play. Junior Burton Deady (Andover, Mass./Andover HS), who had reached on the error, scored the Falcons' second run when he came in on a double play.

Bentley, 0-2, totaled nine hits, including three by Ashworth. Deady, the Falcons' DH, followed with a 2-for-4 performance.

 deNoyelles and senior center fielder Casey Scoggins (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) each had three hits for Tampa while Scoggins and Santa scored three times.

Senior righty David Heintz (Tampa, Fla.) was credited with the victory after four innings of five-hit shutout innings in which he fanned eight. Junior righty Chris McCormick (New Port Richey, Fla.) followed him to the mound and yielded only two hits while striking out seven in his four innings of work.

The two clubs will complete their season-opening three-game series Sunday at 1 pm.