TAMPA — Bryce LaRocca homered twice and drove in five runs as Mississippi College powered past top-ranked Tampa 13-5 on Friday, May 16 in the NCAA South I Regional, handing the Spartans just their seventh loss of the season.
It marked the second loss and snapped a 23-game, winning streak for the Spartans (44-7).
LaRocca finished 4-for-6 with a pair of home runs, a single, and a two-run blast in the ninth that capped a relentless offensive outburst for the Choctaws (34-21), who pounded out 18 hits and scored in seven of nine innings.
Jordan Evans got the Choctaws started early with a solo homer in the first, and LaRocca's first bomb in the third tied the game at 2-2. A wild fourth inning broke the game open, with
Blaise Breerwood's RBI double and
Cade Gadman's sacrifice fly putting MC ahead for good, 5-3.
Caleb Peterson (6-4) earned the win, gutting through 6 1/3 innings and holding Tampa to four runs despite surrendering 10 hits. He struck out six and walked two, quieting a Tampa offense that entered averaging over 9 runs per game.
Gadman drove in three runs, and J.T. Vance added a two-run homer in the eighth. Breerwood went 3-for-4, scoring three times and adding an RBI as part of a balanced lineup that saw six Choctaws record multi-hit games.
Tampa, the Sunshine State Conference champion and regional host, took an early lead with a pair of first-inning runs and added one more in the third. But the Spartans' pitching staff, anchored by ace Conner Williams (12-3), couldn't hold back the surging Choctaws. Williams was tagged for seven earned runs over 5.2 innings and suffered just his third loss of the year.
Nick Saladino and Eric Villegas led the Spartans with two hits and an RBI apiece.
Mississippi College advances to Saturday's night cap and awaits the winner of Albany State and UT. First pitch is 4 p.m. central.
