Patriots baseball strong against top-three teams

Published: Friday, February 22, 2013 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 11:45 p.m.

The College of Central Florida baseball team has been more than up to the challenge of playing tough competition this week.

The Patriots (12-8) improved to 2-1 this weekend against teams ranked among the top three in the state, as they downed No. 2 Gulf Coast State 11-5 on Saturday afternoon at Goodlett Field.

?We?re calling this our February State Tournament,? CF coach Marty Smith said. ?We want to win five, before we lose two (the format needed to win the state title).

?We?ve faced some very good competition and we are going to need this when we get to conference and have to play five tough games in a row.?

CF, which split a pair of games this weekend with No. 3 Miami Dade (that included a 14-5 loss Saturday), scored the go-ahead run in the fifth on a RBI single by Enderson Velsasquez, who added a three-run double that sparked a five-run sixth.

For the game, Velasquez was 3-for-3 with six RBIs and a run.

Travis Richardson (2-1) retired seven of the eight hitters he faced and earned the win.

Jason Lombardozzi was 4-for-4 with two doubles, four runs scored and one RBI for CF in the win over Gulf Coast.

Over the course of the doubleheader, Lombardozzi (6-for-8, four runs scored, two doubles, three RBIs), Ryan Smith (3-for-6, two runs scored), David Lugo (2-for-6, double, triple, RBI, run scored), Kevin Games (2-for-7, RBI, triple, two runs scored), Velasquez (3-for-6, six RBIs, run scored, double) and Mario Urdaneta (2-for-7, double, two runs scored, RBI) led the way for the Patriots.

CF, winner of seven of its last nine games, hosts Gulf Coast (13-5) today at noon.

CF Men?s Basketball 98, FSC-Jacksonville 79: At Jacksonville, the Patriots (27-3, 8-1), ranked 10th in the nation and third in the state, clinched the best single-season winning percentage in school history with their 18th win in the last 20 meetings dating back to 2007.

CF will now await the Suncoast Conference runner-up in the opening round of the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Men?s Basketball Tournament on March 7 in Marianna.

The Patriots led by seven at halftime and upped their edge to as many as 23 in the second half, as they won for the third time in as many tries this season against the Blue Wave (14-15, 4-5).

Eugene McCrory and Rodell Wigginton led CF with 16 points each, while Will Saunders added 15.

Rasham Suarez chipped in 14 points and Jeremiah Eason scored 13.

Source: http://www.ocala.com/article/20130222/articles/130229827

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