Florida Southern Defeats Bryant 5-4 Sunday
Boxscore

LAKELAND,Fla. --- Top-ranked Florida Southern ran its season-opening winning streak to 12 straight games with a 5-4 win over Bryant (R.I.) on Sunday at Henley Field.

The Moccasins, off to their best start since the 1987 team won its first 13 games, had to survive a ninth-inning rally by the Bulldogs to remain unbeaten. FSC closer Kyle DeYoung started the ninth and retired the first two batters.

The Bulldogs (0-3) then put together four straight singles to produce two runs, with Daryle Crowley and Paul Novakowski driving in the runs, but Nick Tucarella grounded out to short with two men on to end the game. DeYoung picked up his fourth save, preserving the win for Brian Reves, who is 3-0. Steve Sloan made his first start of the season for the Bulldogs and took the loss.

Matt Joyce's two-run single in the first put the Moccasins out in front. FSC scored single runs in the fourth, on a sacrifice fly by Matt Mercurio, and in the sixth, on an RBI-single by Nick Diyorio, to answer Bryant runs in the top of those innings.

Ryan Doyle singled in the fourth-inning run and Adam Rourke singled in the sixth inning tally, but Novakowski was thrown out at the plate on Rourke's single to end the sixth inning. Mercurio's RBI-fielder's choice in the eighth produced what proved to be the deciding run. Novakowski had four of the Bulldogs' 13 hits.

Diyorio had three hits for FSC, giving him 10 for the weekend series and raising his team-leading batting average to .547.

Bryant 000 101 002 - 4-13-3
FSC 200 101 01x - 5-12-0
Steve Sloan, Luke Cowan (8), Brian Fioretti (8), Chris Bowser (8) and Nick Tucarella.
Brian Reves, John Milton (7), Kyle DeYoung (9) and Jeff Howell.
WP: Reves (3-0). LP: Sloan (0-1). S: DeYoung (4).
2B: FSC - Howell. HR: None.
Records: FSC 12-0, Bryant 0-3.