March 4, 2008
PENSACOLA, Fla. - The West Florida baseball team rebounded from a six game losing streak to bury the bison 12-5, on the strength of two run homers from Greg Pron and Gregg Burkel. Meanwhile, Todd Stannard pitched four innings of solid relief to earn the win and improve to 2-0 on the season. The win improved UWF to 10-12 on the season.
It was a cold Tuesday night in Pensacola and the University of West Florida's baseball team went toe-to-toe with the Harding University Bisons. With the temperature dropping to 48 degrees, fans in the stands were wrapped in sweaters and blankets as the game lasted over three hours with UWF putting baserunners on base all night long.
The Bisons jumped on the board first with one run in the first inning, followed by a three-run homerun in the second inning thanks to Randall Hunt. The Argos answered in the bottom of the second inning with three runs to close to within 4-3. Steven Bingert hit a triple into center field and batted in Jon Reed and Scott Beckwith. After that, Brandon Brewer singled and drove Bingert in off of third base to tighten the score to 4-3 with the Bisons leading.
Greg Pron blasted a two-run homerun in the fifth inning after two innings of no scoring for the Argos or the Bisons, and Craig Westcott touched home plate giving the Argos their first lead of the game 5-4. This turned out to be the game winning hit for UWF.
Argos catcher Steven Bingert, gunned down two Bisons trying to steal in the sixth inning, as the West Florida defense stepped it up a notch, against West Division Harding.
The bottom of the sixth inning belonged to the Argos crafty batting, bunting and great base running. Bingert, Kyle Andrews and Kyle Brown all bunted in the sixth, with Brown's bunt being a sacrifice for Bingert to score, which opened the gates for the Argos scoring attack. Brewer singled to right field, and after Craig Westcott hammered a hit to right field also, Brewer and Andrews made it home to increase the Argos lead to 8-4 closing the sixth inning.
UWF scored two more runs in the seventh inning, and then Gregg Burkel drilled a two run homer so high in the eighth inning it could have hit the top row of the stadium lights.
The Argos hope to take the momentum of today's win and gear up for a sweep of Harding tomorrow afternoon. Assistant Coach Shane Gierke, was happy to break the losing-streak, and talked about the batting of his team."Feels good to win, we pitched and batted well tonight," Gierke said. "We try to manufacture runs any way possible, and that's why during the sixth, you saw all the bunting. It doesn't matter how we get on base, as long as we score and put ourselves in position to score."
Greg Pron, who stands 6-feet-6-inches, and hit a two-run homerun, directed more attention to his team winning, than his homer. "I try to do what I can to help the team, so I was just trying to get a hit," Pron said. "When I hit it though, I knew it was gone. Winning definitely feels good, and we had a little morale boost from the press box with the new music. It was something more for the players."
Also hitting a homerun, Gregg Burkel, first baseman for the Argos, felt good about the win, and about getting out of the cold. "I've hit balls that high in practice, but not in a game," Burkel said. I knew it was gone as soon as it left my bat. Tonight's game was a great effort by our team, and it feels good to win, even though it was extremely cold."
Shane Greene started for UWF tonight and gave up two-earned runs in the first two innings, and Todd Stannard earned the win with two strikeouts, only two hits allowed, and no earned runs, in his four innings of work. The Argos play the Bisons again tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., and it should be a little warmer in Pensacola than the 48 degrees for Tuesday nights game.
