Tusculum Blanks Tampa in NCAA Regional Baseball Action
May 19, 2005

Courtesy Tusculum College Sports Information Office

LAKELAND, Fla. --- Eric Butler pitched a two-hit shutout while Matt Riggs played a role in two of his team's three runs to lead second-seeded Tusculum over third-seeded Tampa 3-0 in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Region Baseball Tournament held at Henley Field.

Butler limited the Spartans (38-17) to a first-inning single by Orlando Rosales and a sixth-inning single by Roberto Valiente. After the hit by Valiente, Butler retired 11 of the final 12 batters he would face to finish off his second career shutout and improve to 8-6 on the season. The junior right-hander walked three and struck out two, and improved to 4-1 with a 1.65 ERA in his last five starts.

"I'm so proud of Eric and his performance," said Tusculum head coach Doug Jones. "Eric didn't have a good start against Kentucky in his last time out. We played aggressive baseball today and that is the reason why we are having the season we are having. I'm so proud of our guys."

"I had a mind-set of attacking the zone today," said Butler. "Our defense really stepped up today and gave me the confidence to attack their hitters. This is the start of the new season for me and I'm pleased with how we performed as a team."

Tampa's best scoring chance came in the first inning when Valiente walked to start the game and Rosales followed with a hit-and-run single through the right side of the infield that moved Valiente to third. Butler ended the threat by getting a fielder's choice ground out that held Valiente at third and an inning-ending double play.

The Pioneers backed their pitcher with 14 hits, but had difficulty scoring. Tusculum stranded a total of 12 base runners, hit into two double plays, had one runner picked off and another thrown out at the plate. However, all but one Tusculum starter had at least one hit, with Riggs and Tim Brown each picking up three.

Riggs gave his team a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth after catcher Adam Beacham had led off with a double. The senior outfielder bunted his teammate to third where he was able to score on Josh Wolff's single up the middle.

Adam Hicks led off the bottom of the sixth with his second home run of the season to make it 2-0 and Riggs gave the Pioneers their final run with an RBI single in the eighth that scored Brown.

While Butler earned his eighth win of the year for Tusculum, Aaron Cook suffered his first loss for Tampa. Coming into the game with a 7-0 record, Cook was making only his third start of the season and held the Pioneers to only two runs in six innings of work. He worked around 10 hits, a walk and two hit batters while leaving the bases loaded in the fourth and fifth innings. Philip Whitten pitched the final two innings for the Spartans, allowing one run on four hits.

                         2005 Florida Southern Baseball
                            #9 Tampa vs #17 Tusculum
                    05/19/05 at Lakeland, FL (Henley Field)

Tampa 0 (38-17)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Roberto Valiente cf......  2  0  1  0   2  0  0  0   0
Orlando Rosales rf.......  4  0  1  0   0  0  6  1   0
Lee Cruz dh..............  4  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
T.J. Alonzo lf...........  4  0  0  0   0  0  3  0   2
Chris Ignaut 1b..........  3  0  0  0   0  0  6  0   1
Scott Leffler c..........  3  0  0  0   0  0  6  3   0
Jamie McKean 2b..........  3  0  0  0   0  1  1  3   0
Jose Hernandez 3b........  2  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
 Alex Castellvi ph.......  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Charlie Raley 3b........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Brad Chamberlain ss......  1  0  0  0   1  1  1  3   0
 J.R. Hopf ph............  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Rob Kane ss.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Aaron Cook p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Philip Whitten p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 28  0  2  0   3  2 24 11   4

Tusculum 3 (44-15)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Matt Riggs lf............  4  0  3  1   0  1  3  0   0
 Matt Webb cf............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Josh Wolff cf/lf.........  4  0  1  1   0  1  2  0   2
Skip Talarek 3b..........  5  0  0  0   0  1  0  2   0
George Hanger dh.........  4  0  2  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Mike Calano pr/dh.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Kenny Reed rf............  2  0  2  0   1  0  1  0   0
 Rob Redelman rf.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
Greg Stotser ss..........  4  0  1  0   0  0  2  7   3
Adam Hicks 1b............  3  1  1  1   0  1 14  0   3
Tim Brown 2b.............  4  1  3  0   0  0  2  6   3
Adam Beacham c...........  3  1  1  0   0  1  2  0   0
Eric Butler p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 33  3 14  3   1  5 27 16  12

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Tampa............... 000 000 000 -  0  2  0
Tusculum............ 000 011 01X -  3 14  1
-------------------------------------------

E - Stotser(11). DP - Spartans 2; Pioneers 2. LOB - Spartans 4; Pioneers 12.
2B - Beacham(3). HR - Hicks(2). HBP - Wolff; Reed; Hicks. SH - Riggs(2);
Beacham(6). SB - Valiente(22); Rosales(14); Calano(14); Reed 2(23).

Tampa                  IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Aaron Cook..........  6.0 10  2  2  1  3 25 29
Philip Whitten......  2.0  4  1  1  0  2  8 10

Tusculum               IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Eric Butler.........  9.0  2  0  0  3  2 28 31

Win - Butler (8-6).  Loss - Cook (7-1).  Save - None.
HBP - by Cook (Hicks); by Cook (Reed); by Whitten (Wolff).
Umpires - HP:  Steve Banks  1B:  Dennis Mitchell  2B:  Ed Rundle  3B:  Wes
Tucker  Start: 1:00 pm   Time: 1:57   Attendance: 142
Game notes:
NCAA Div. II South Regional - Game 1.