Over the last four springs, teams from Major League Baseball have taken on collegiate squads in exhibition games at the opening of spring training. Those big leaguers were 23-1 against the collegians heading into the 2016 campaign. The one loss? Last year’s 6-2 drubbing suffered by the Phillies at the hands of the University of Tampa Spartans.
You would have to be excused if you were a fan of the Spartans, and came into yesterday’s 2016 spring opening exhibition game at Bright House Field with high hopes of another victory over the Fightin’ Phils. After all, the school became NCAA Division II champions a year ago, and were already off to an 11-1 start this season.