AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- The Castleton University baseball team continued its stretch of games in Florida Sunday morning as it dropped a 9-3 nonconference decision to Capital University at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex. 

With Davis Mikell starting on the mound for the Spartans (0-2), the Crusaders (2-0) opened up the scoring in the first inning. On the first two batters he faced, Mikell gave up a leadoff single off the bat of Beau Otto, followed by a walk to Shayne Lyons. With no outs recorded, the Crusaders took the lead as Bryce Grisez cracked a single to right field, driving in the Crusaders' first run. 

The Crusaders added to its lead soon after as Lyons swiped third base and then scored on a throwing error by John Stewart III.

The Spartans cut the deficit to one in the bottom half of the second inning as Alex Borsari singled through the left side of the infield with two outs. Evan Keegan followed that up with a two-out single to right field, pushing Borsari over to third base.

With runners on the corners and two outs, the Spartans tallied their first run of the game the very next batter. Jake Spielberg hit soft dribbler towards second base and reached on an error by the second baseman Otto, scoring Borsari. 

The Spartans evened the scoring the very next inning after Mikell struck out the side. Jeremy Johnson started off the bottom half of the second inning with a leadoff walk. Johnson, who is batting .600 through the first two games of the season, went 0-2 with two walks and a run scored in today's game. After Reece De Castro moved the runner over with a sacrifice bunt, Mikell smoked a two-out double off the wall in deep left-center, scoring Johnson, as the Spartans tied the game at two. 

Mikell was flawless through the next 4.2 innings he pitched. During that time, he struck out five batters and did not surrender a run. However, Mikell gave up the go-ahead run with two outs in the seventh inning. With a runner on second base, Cole Callaghan doubled to left-center field, giving the Crusaders a 3-2 lead. 

Mikell was near perfect on the mound today, earning the loss as he pitched seven innings, giving up three runs, one walk, and nine strikeouts.  

The Crusaders would pull away in the top half of the ninth inning as the team tacked on six runs, blowing the game wide open. 

The Spartans, looking for a late comeback, added one more run after Ryan Lawrence hit a stand up triple and De Castro grounded out to cut the deficit to 9-3.

Castleton will return to action Tuesday, February 25 as it takes on Northern Vermont-Lyndon in a doubleheader with the first game scheduled to start at 11 a.m.