DAVIE, Fla- No. 12 St. Thomas (3-2) came close, but come up short to No. 1 Division II Nova Southeastern 4-2 on Tuesday night. 

The Sharks got off to an early 3-0 lead before the Bobcats scored two of their own off two sac flies in the top of the third.  Andrew Denis came in relief of starter Chris Rodriguez to strand the bases loaded in two consecutive innings. The bullpen combined for four and two-thirds innings, giving up just one run.

Sun Conference Player of the Week Oscar Rodriguez and David Palenzuela drove in the only runs for the Bobcats in the top of the third inning. Both were sac flies. A defensive highlight came in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the infield drawn in, and a Shark runner on third with one out, Devon Stubbings got Sebastian Diaz to hit a sharp one-hopper to Daniel Lowry, who then went home, catching Kevin Suarez in a run down. Catcher Randy Oliva then chased Suarez back to the bag, dumping it off to third baseman German Morales who applied the tag. Due to the rundown, Diaz tried stretching it to second base, where Morales was able to throw down to Michael Centeno, resulting in the "traditional" 6-2-5-4 double play. 

Next up for the Bobcats is a trip to Ave Maria to play a weekend series with the Gyrenes. The game on Friday, February 10 begins at 2 p.m.