Tampa Bay Weekend in Review: New Uniforms, Baseball is Back, And More…
By TJ Ackerman
A review of what took place in Tampa Bay area sports over the weekend:
Tampa Bay Rays
- The Rays opened Spring Training with a 4-2 loss to the Orioles on Friday evening.
- The Tampa Bay Rays & Pittsburgh Pirates played to a 2-2 tie on Saturday, as David Price got his first live action of the spring. Watch David’s post game comments here.
- Tampa picked up their first win of the spring with a 6-3 win over the Twins behind a solid outing from Alex Cobb (post-game reactions).
Tampa Bay Lightning
- The Bolts earned their first win since the Olympic break with a 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Marty St. Louis scored 2 goals and Ben Bishop saved 39 shots in the victory.
- Tampa Bay surrendered 4 goals in the third period to the Colorado Avalanche, resulting in a 6-3 loss in Denver on Sunday. The loss drops the Lightning to 3rd place in the Atlantic Division, two points back of Montreal.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- The Bucs released their new uniforms this morning and Rob has his take here. Tampa has attempted to blend both the past and the present with this new look, and in doing so, they’ve now developed one of the more modern uniforms in the NFL. Personally, I prefer the old look of red and pewter, but I can understand their desire to appeal to a younger generation of fans that have grown up with more flashy ensembles (thanks Oregon!). What are everyone else’s thoughts?
NCAA Men’s Basketball
- The top ranked Florida Gators steamrolled the LSU Tigers in Gainesville to close out their first week as the number one team in the country. Florida travels to South Carolina on Tuesday night, before closing out the regular season against Kentucky on Saturday.
- Florida State entered the weekend as one of the first four teams out, per ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi. However, the Seminoles kept its NCAA Tournament hopes alive with a win over Georgia Tech on Sunday night.
- The South Florida Bulls blew a 15 point lead in New Jersey, falling to Rutgers 74-73.
NCAA Women’s Softball
- The Florida Gators ran their win streak to 21 with a sweep of the 2014 Diamond 9 Citrus Classic. The Gators earned victories over Oregon, Fordham, Ohio State, Maryland, and Radford. Next up is Boston College in Gainesville on Tuesday.
- The USF Bulls swept the Under Armour Invitational, with wins over Stanford, Central Arkansas, St. Bonaventure, Loyola Marymount, Villanova, and Maine.
- The Seminoles went 4-1 over the weekend in the Easton Crimson Classic, with victories over Houston, Purdue (twice), and Alabama. Florida State improved to 18-2 on the season.
NCAA Men’s Baseball
- The USF Bulls suffered their first two losses of the season this past weekend at the hands of Columbia. The Bulls split the weekend series 2-2 and take on the Florida State Seminoles Tuesday & Wednesday.
- The University of Miami handed the Florida State Seminoles their first loss of the season on Friday night. However, the Seminoles recovered, taking the weekend series 2-1 with victories on Saturday & Sunday. The #2 ranked Seminoles take on USF in a 2 game mid-week series.
- The Florida Gators struggled over the weekend, going 1-3 with losses against Florida Gulf Coast and Illinois (twice). The Gators are now 6-6 on the season and take on Southern Miss on Tuesday.