THOMASVILLE, GA. – No. 9 St. Thomas (24-3, 6-1 TSC) defeated Sun conference opponent Thomas University (14-15, 2-10 TSC) 11-8 at Varnedoe Stadium on Friday afternoon to open the weekend series.
Orlando Rodriguez (6-0) earned his sixth win on the season for the Bobcats, going seven innings, with five strikeouts and only allowing two earned runs. Rodriguez was able to get into a comfortable groove early on in the game as the offense for St. Thomas spotted him with an early 4-0 lead before he even got to the mound. It was the third time in his last four starts that Rodriguez pitched at least seven innings in a win.
Alex Sarmiento and
Jose Pupo each came into the game to pitch in relief before closer
Erne Valdes shut the door in the ninth retiring the three Nighthawks he faced in order.
The Bobcats offense got off to yet another fast start, scoring four runs in the first inning as Chris Garabedian (2-4, 2 RBIs) plated Jackie Urbaez on a RBI single to open up the scoring. STU would add two more runs on a RBI single from
Randy Oliva (3-5. 3-R HR, 5 RBIs) which plated Garabedian and Nelson Mompierre.
The two-run single from Oliva were two of his team high, five RBIs on the game as Oliva would later add a three-run home run to extend the Bobcats lead to 11-0 over Thomas. In addition to Oliva's home run, Sergio Lopez (1-5, Solo HR) would add his team high seventh home run of the season.
Up next for the St. Thomas is a doubleheader against Thomas University as the weekend series continues from Thomasville, with the games starting at 12 p.m.
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