ROCK HILL, S.C., – Despite a three-run ninth inning, the Jacksonville University baseball team fell short to Winthrop in Game 1 of a three-game set in Rock Hill, S.C., on Friday night, 8-7. The Dolphins (5-4) will head to the Eagles (4-3) Winthrop Ballpark tomorrow for Game 2, slated for 3 p.m. 

In the final-frame down 8-4, the Dolphins offense would claw and rally within one run.

How it got there, JJ Gould (1-for-4) would leadoff the frame reaching base and stole second to begin the rally. Cameron Gibson (1-for-4) drove a double to center field scoring Gould, and senior Angelo Amendolare (2-for-5) would come to the plate. With a hit already in the first inning, the senior would knock his fifth straight multi-hit game with an RBI-single.

Two runners on and two out for the nation's leading RBI getter, Connor Marabell (2-for-4) answered the call, driving the pitch into center, scoring Amendolare who was on second after tacking on the stolen base from first. Austin Hays (2-for-5) drove a deep-ball to center, but it was tracked down, and the inning was done, 8-7 the final.

Michael Baumann would give the Dolphins five innings, striking out five and gave up two earned. He retired the first nine batters faced to start in his third appearance as a Dolphin. Spencer Stockton would get charged with the loss after surrendering three earned over 1.1 innings.

After a four-inning hit drought, two runs on three hits were tallied in the sixth off the bats of Hays' two-RBI single and Dylan Dillard's (1-for-4) RBI-double down the third base line, scoring Hays and solidifying his fourth-straight game with an extra-base hit.

The Eagles would answer back in the same frame tying the game at four with a two-run home run by cleanup hitter John Menken. The home team would tack on four runs in the eighth behind a two-run home run by Kyle Edwards and take the 8-4 lead. 

The Dolphins struck first in the initial frame, with Amendolare singling in the first pitch of the at bat and stole second base. Hays would come to the plate and give one a ride off the fence for a triple. The feat marked his sixth extra-base hit and added to his hitting-streak of seven games. 

'FIN NOTABLES

• Marabell has recorded an RBI in every game this season
• Amendolare extends hitting streak to five-games 
• Amendolare stole a career-high three-bases, six for the season
• Hays extends his hitting streak to seven games, reached base in all eight
• Gibson has hits in eight-of-nine games this season
• Dillard recorded his third double of the season, has a four-game hitting streak
• Baumann boxed his 16th strikeout of the season with his third-straight game of five-strikeouts or more

@JUBaseball | #FearTheFin