Tampa, Florida (March 2)-The Saint Anselm College baseball team fell to the University of Tampa Spartans 26-3 in the afternoon, but defeated the Lions of Saint Leo 15-13 in the night-cap on Monday to move to 2-3 on the young season.

Against Tampa, the Spartans would score a run in the bottom of the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead. Junior designated-hitter Mike Schwartz (Montville, N.J.) ripped an RBI double down the left field line in the first and Nick Nordgren (Norway, Iowa) knocked in the second run on an infield single in the second for the home team.

Tampa would put up 11 runs on nine hits in the third to take a 13-0 lead after three innings. Steven Broschofsky (River Ridge, Louisiana) and Mike Swartz (Montville, N.J.) would each belt two-run homers in the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, Tampa would explode for nine more runs to make it 24-0 heading into the top of the seventh.

In the seventh the Hawks would hit the board when junior catcher Eric Baca (Franklin, N.H.) would lace a two-RBI single to right-field scoring Matt Sucharewicz (Peabody, Mass.) and Tim Griswold (Holmdel, N.J.) to make it 24-2.

After the Spartans added two more, the Hawks would another run on another RBI single from Baca scoring freshman Dan DeCoste (Chelmsford, Mass.) giving Baca all three-Hawk RBI's on the day.

On the mound for the Hawks, freshman Ben Waldrip (Medford, Mass.) took the loss going two and two-thirds innings and giving up 12 runs on 12 hits, while Spartans pitcher Carmine Giardina (Valrico, Florida) picked up the win going seven innings and giving up only two runs while striking out nine Saint Anselm batters.

In the night cap against Saint Leo, the Lions hit the scoreboard in the bottom of the second when second baseman Jonathon Duncan (Starke, Florida) hit an RBI single up the middle scoring Dustin Brown (Dade City, Florida) to make it 1-0 in favor of the home team. The very next batter, Anthony Santa (Land O'Lakes, Florida) hit a sac-fly to the centerfielder to score Bryan Davis (Mokena, Ill.) to put the Lions up 2-0 heading into the third.

In the top of third the Hawks had runners on second and third with one out and Waldrip plated the Hawks first run on a wild pitch from St. Leo pitcher Cory Casuso (Miami, Florida) to make it 2-1.

After St. Leo put up four runs in the bottom of the third, the Hawks cut into the lead when Sucharewicz scored on a fielding error to make it 6-2.

In the top of the fifth the Hawks continued to cut into the Lion lead on a two-RBI double from TJ Murphy (Reading, Mass.) scoring Ben Gunn (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) and TJ Bowler (Pittsfield, Mass.). Still in the top half of the fifth freshman designated hitter Matt Stone (West Roxbury, Mass.) ripped a single up the middle to score Murphy to cut the deficit to 6-5. But the Hawks weren't done as Waldrip would rip his own RBI single up the middle scoring Stone to even the game at six. Steven Panza (Watertown, Mass.) would give the Hawks the lead on a sacrifice bunt scoring Jimmy Garrigan (Plymouth, Mass.) from third for the 7-6 lead. The top of the fifth totaled five Hawk hits, four runs and two St. Leo errors.

The lead would be short-lived as Davis would lead off the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo home-run to even the game at seven for the Lions.

Saint Anselm would put up three runs in the sixth to make it a 10-7 ballgame. Stone would hit a seeing-eye single through the right side of the infield to knock in two runs. To batters later Waldrip would put one through the same whole to score another Saint Anselm run.

In the bottom of the seventh St. Leo would even the game once again on an RBI fielders choice from Duncan, and a two-RBI single through the left side of the infield from Bobby Munoz (Tampa, Florida) make it 10-10.

In the top of the eighth the Hawks added two more runs to make it 12-10. Panza wouls cut a RBI double to score Garrigan, then third baseman Eric Simm (Salem, N.H.) plated Panza on an RBI single of his own to give the Hawks the two-run lead.

In the ninth Saint Anselm would add on some much needed insurance runs by drawing three bases-loaded walks to extend their led to 15-10. St. Leo would score three in the bottom half, but junior David Giarrusso (Cranston, R.I.) would preserve the Hawks 15-13 win over the Lions.

Hawks starter Sean Hayden (Haverhill, Mass.) went six innings givin up six earned runs but Mike Fantini (Haverhill, Mass.) would pick up his first victory of the season by pitching the seventh inning and giving up two earned runs. Lions pitcher Dale Slimick (Sarasota, Florida) picked up his first loss of the season in relief.

The Hawks return to action tomorrow, March 3rd, as they will face Eckerd College at 7 p.m.