By Noah Grant / Sports Reporter / Winter Haven, FLA.

-St. Cloud State baseball dropped their third game in Florida on Thursday, falling 7-2 to the Barry University Buccaneers at Chain of Lakes Park. 

Barry wasted no time jumping out to an early lead against Huskies senior starter Kahler Key, scoring four runs in the first. Barry brought eight batters to the plate in the frame, recording three hits and one walk. Jalen Smith picked up an RBI single early in the frame, before Anthony Tralongo hit a laser over the right field wall for a two-run home run.

From there, Key would settle in, finishing six innings and striking out six. He would only give up one more run across the final five innings of his outing. Of the five runs scored against Key, only three were earned.  On the other side, however, Key was matched zero for zero by the Barry pitching staff who were able to limit the Huskies to just three hits through seven innings.

In the top of the seventh, Zavier Hatfield hit a solo homer to right off of Huskies junior relief pitcher Seth Luther to extend the lead to 6-0. Luther would bounce back after the longball, though, striking out four batters over his two innings of relief. In total, Huskies pitching ended the evening with 13 strikeouts.

The Huskies would finally get on the board in the eighth. Redshirt freshman Max Robinson led off with a single before redshirt junior Hayden Frank doubled down the left field line. Redshirt senior Liam Moreno grounded out to short to score Robinson, then freshman Ryan Cahoon delivered a two-out single to center to bring in Frank to cut the deficit to 6-2. 

Barry would get one more in the ninth on a two out single from Aidan Heffner to round out the scoring. Jack Ensell picked up the win on the mound, delivering a scoreless six inning start, allowing just three hits and striking out six. 

The Huskies fall to 8-6 on the season, and 1-2 on their Florida trip. SCSU will have a day off on Friday, before they return to action against Ashland University on Saturday at 6:00 pm EST/ 5:00 pm CT. That game will be broadcast on the KVSC Sports Stream with Noah Grant on the call. 

Photo credit: SCSU Athletics.