Box Score

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Against the No. 2 ranked team in the country, the Cal State Stanislaus baseball team held its own before coming up short in a 5-4 loss Thursday night.

The Warriors (3-2) out-hit the Mocs (5-0) and the bullpen completely shutdown a powerful offense before dropping the first game of the four-game set in Central Florida.

The Mocs got on the board first in the second inning when a single, a double, a wild pitch and a ground out led to two runs.  However, the Warriors bounced right back with two runs of their own in the top of third.  Andrew Graves and Kory Vitato collected back to back singles and then Corey Conflenti doubled to left to plate both runs and knot the game at 2-2.

Florida Southern answered back in the bottom half of the frame scoring three unearned runs.  Again the Warriors were able to answer back but not equal the what the Mocs had done.  After the first two runners reached, a failed sacrifice bunt attempt and a strikeout left the Warriors with two on and two out.  Graves reached on an error to load the bases and then Vitato came up with a two RBI single to make the score 5-4.

The game would remain that way until the end, despite a few failed rallies from the Warriors.  They left six runners on base in the final four innings of play.

Conflenti ended the day going 3-for-5 with a double and drove in two runs while  Vitato had two hits with two RBIs to lead the Stanislaus offense, which out-hit Florida Southern 11-6.

CSUS starter Kory Wallace pitched 5 1/3 strong innings, gave up just five hits, struck out five and allowed two earned runs. The Warriors bullpen -- Tyler Harris, Leonard Giammanco, Chris Anklam, Eric Cendejas -- gave up just one hit the rest of the way.

The two teams are scheduled to be back in action Friday with first pitch scheduled for 7 pm est.