TAMPA, FLA. – The Queens University of Charlotte baseball team twice held a lead against the defending national champions, but No. 1 Tampa University used a four-run sixth inning to take a sizeable lead and survived a ninth-inning rally by the Royals to come away with a 9-6 win on its home field.
 
Scoring got started in the third inning of play when Tampa (1-1) scored in the top half before Queens (0-2) took a 2-1 lead following a Noah Jones two-run triple in the bottom of the frame. After the Spartans scored twice to go back in front in the fourth, the Royals responded with a two-run double from Alex Sexton to put the Navy and Vegas Gold on top by a 4-3 count.
 
Across the fifth and sixth innings, Tampa scored six runs to build a 9-4 lead and held the Royals scoreless until the ninth frame. Sophomore Nick Melton led off the ninth with a double down the left field line and scored on one-out RBI single from senior transfer Drake Harris. Harris advanced to third on a Jones double and later scored on a wild pitch before Queens ended the contest with a groundout.
 
Sophomore Tanner Jacobson (0-1) was hit with the loss after giving up nine runs (five earned) on eight hits with seven strikeouts and five walks in 5.2 innings on the mound. Fellow sophomore Zach Kelly made his second appearance in as many days, tossing 3.1 scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
 
Jones was 2-for-5 at the plate with a double, a triple, and two RBI, while Sexton was also 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI of his own. Redshirt-junior Dominic Ford and redshirt-sophomore Anthony Orta also recorded multi-hit games, and each scored a run.
 
Queens concludes its three-game weekend tomorrow morning, squaring off against No. 20 University of Mount Olive at 11 a.m.