TAMPA, Fla. – FIT in their first conference matchup of the year traveled west to Tampa, Florida to do battle with the No. 17 Spartans. The team would find themselves tasked with trying to generate offense against a stout Tampa defense. This would prove difficult despite their best efforts throughout the contest.

  The Crimson and Gray would find itself battling against a hot bullpen that limited the team to four hits on the night. James Gronberg, Daniel Szpik, Ryan Sinzenich and Jakob Newton would earn a single on the night. Defensively, Ty Cohen brought the heat, as he would strike out eight of the 26 batters he faced over five complete innings.

Szpik would earn the first hit of the ballgame as he send a shot towards UT's shortstop and legged out a single before capitalizing on a Spartan error which resulted in him taking second. Florida Tech would let up a run in the bottom half of the inning but Cohen would prove too much for the next two batter taking them both down swinging.

Newton would also earn his one hit on his first plate appearance of the night as he singled to left field. The Spartans would find their bats in the bottom half of the third and fourth innings earning two and three runs respectively. However, both team's pitchers would find their rhythm after the fourth as both teams were held scoreless for the rest of the evening.

Gronberg would crack Tampa's defense in the eighth inning as he hit a screamer down the right field line to earn the third hit of the night for Florida Tech. Sinzenich would join his peers in the final inning of play, as he would place the ball in no man 's land of center field to earn himself a single.

The Panthers will look to shake of the loss quickly as they are back into action tomorrow afternoon in a doubleheader that will decide the series. Play will begin at 1 p.m. on the UT Baseball Field. You can follow the action live at floridatechsports.com.