JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Led by senior Angelo Amendolare's offensive mashing, the Jacksonville University baseball team defeated Coppin St. 10-7 Sunday en route to the sweep. The Dolphins (5-2) conclude their opening home stand, winners of five-straight games heading into Tuesday's rematch vs. Florida State in Tallahassee.

Amendolare went 9-for-15 in three games which included nine RBI, a result from a grand slam, triple and three doubles. The six RBI he produced in the opening game was second most in Dolphin history to All-American Adam Brett-Walker who drove in seven in 2011. On the year, the senior is batting .433, .733 slugging, with 10 RBI and four doubles.

"I just have my teammates behind me that believe I can get it done," said Amendolare who was named co-captain by his teammates at the beginning of the season. "That allows me to have the confidence in myself. It's a great feeling, to know those guys look up to me. I just try to bring energy every day, and to have fun out there. Hitting is contagious, my job is getting on base and let the rest of the team continue to rake behind me."

Recording hits in six-of-seven games this season, senior Cameron Gibson (1-for-5) recorded an RBI-single in the seventh inning. He is batting .385 on the year with two stolen bases. 

"We are in a good place, everyone is hitting it well from top to bottom," said Gibson. "Everybody is looking for ways to improve eachother. We keep it lighthearted when we need to and stay locked in even with big leads, making sure we stay in the same mindset throughout the game."

Gibson who is one of the senior leaders who boosts morale not only with his wisdom, but with his effort on the field making diving plays and producing at the plate, influencing some of the younger players who have been put in big rolls on the 2015 team.

"Senior wise we bring the tenacity," said Gibson. "Be tenacious, never expect a team to roll over. When they push, we push back. With some of us having played different levels of ball, we try and shed light on what we've learned and  tips on the game that we've known from experience. The younger guys learning are really receptive and we really mesh well."

Jacksonville concluded the series with 34-runs scored on 35-hits, with 13 extra-base hits, including home runs from Amendolare, sophomore Austin Hays (2-for-3) and junior Dylan Dillard (2-for-4) in Sunday's game. Junior Connor Marabell (2-for-4) posted three-RBI today for his team leading 16, recording an RBI in every game this season, fifth multi-RBI game.

In his second-start of the season, Justin Russell recorded the win after 5.1 innings, two earned runs and a career-high nine strikeouts. In good company, the last time a Dolphin recorded more in a game, Chris Anderson had 10 in 2013. 

"We are heading in the right direction, the win on Tuesday kickstarted us and the bats are really coming alive," said Russell. "I can pitch like that beccause I have the confidence in those guys to defend and produce offensively. All of those aspects, give us more confidence in the right moments in games."

In his second season at the helm, head coach Tim Montez is off to his best start, his team winners of their last five games.

 "After seven game home stand to come away 5-2 that was what would be a heck of a way to head into our road schedule." said head coach Tim Montez. "Hats off to Coppin St., they fought the entire way. They're going to work for it andwin some games in conference. It's hard to sweep, I don't care who you play, now we have a difficult road ahead of us with Florida State and Winthrop. FSU is going to want to answer back, we got our work cut out for us. We're going to strap it on and tighten our belts, and make things difficult for them. This weekend a lot of guys got confidence back."

Nathan Disch closed the door on a late rally from the Eagles for his third save of the season.

The Dolphins travel to Tallahassee, Tuesday with a rematch set against FSU at 4 p.m. JU took game one 5-3, off of six hits. 

@JUBaseball | #FearTheFin

.