TAMPA, Fla. – FIT would find itself locked into tightly contested battles versus the No. 17 Tampa Spartans in their first conference series of the young season. Despite finding, their offense the team would still see themselves outgunned in the final two games of the weekend dropping the two games 3-7 and 8-12 respectively.

Shortstop Jakob Newton was the power bat of the day for the Crimson and Gray as he managed to knock the ball over the wall for the single homerun of the series for the team in game one of the doubleheader. Multiple members would find themselves registering multiple RBIs on the day as Raul Quintero, Daniel Szpik, Jacob Buser and Joe Tesoriero would all earn two between the two outings.

Game one would see Merritt Island native Sam Crocker grab the start on the mound for the Panthers. He would start the game out strong as he limited the Spartans to only one run in the first two innings. This would allow the team to jump out to an early lead as they took off in the top half of the third scoring three runs. The 1-1 tying run would come off a solo blast over the left field wall by Newton. A few batters later would see James Gronberg send a shot to left field that would get Vincenzo Catanza across the plate to take the lead. Gronberg would also cross home plate later in the inning when Quintero grounded out to the pitcher.

This would end the scoring for Florida Tech in game one. Unfortunately for the Tampa would manage to tie and eventually take the lead for good in the bottom half of the fourth and would extend the lead out to the final 7-3 mark in the sixth inning.

Junior Andrew Marzheuser would tally the start for the Panthers in the final game of the weekend but Drew Beyer would earn the loss in the contest. The last game of the series would see an offensive explosion by both teams. Tampa would strike first in the bottom half of the first as they would send a ball over the fence to take a 2-0 lead. Florida Tech would response in the top half of the third scoring Catanza on a passed ball. Szpik would single to center that would allow Tesoriero to score tying the game 2-2.

The Spartans would control the game over the next inning and a half scoring three. Nevertheless, FIT would again response closing the gap in the fifth to one off a Jacob Buser double that scored both Quintero and Kevin Capella. The team would again find itself even when Cole Aker walked Szpik in the top of the sixth allowing Tesoriero to cross-unimpeded tying the game at five.

The Panthers would find themselves in trouble again after a homer in the bottom sixth and a strong bottom of the seventh would see Tampa extend the lead out to six. Quintero would drive in Capella in the top half of the eighth to narrow the gap to 6-11 before seeing the final Spartan run in the bottom part of the inning. Tesoriero would bat in the final two runs of the game for FIT in the top half of the ninth but the team was unable to complete the rally falling 8-12.

Florida Tech will look to earn its first conference win of the season on Tuesday as they head down to West Palm Beach, Florida to take on Palm Beach Atlantic. First pitch for the game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at J.M. "Jake" Rubin Park. You can watch, listen or follow the action live at floridatechsports.com.