Live Stats of Game 3

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For the third consecutive series, the Jacksonville University baseball team heads to a game three rubber match having split games with North Florida, falling Saturday 16-7 at Harmon Stadium. The Dolphins (18-20; 4-4 A-Sun) are 1-1 in series clinching game three's while the Ospreys (29-13; 7-4 A-Sun) have two-of-three conference series this season. Sunday is a 1 p.m. start and can be heard live on 92.5 FM.

The game began similar to the victory last night by the Dolphins, when Austin Hays (1-for-4) sent a deep drive over the left center-field wall, gathering the early 1-0 lead, but a two-out rally by the Ospreys in the same frame would prove to be the theme of the afternoon, as for back-to-back innings, the home team would drive in 14 runs with two outs. 

"You can see why this conference is so tough heading into a similar situation we had last weekend, tomorrow," said head coach Tim Montez. "It will come down to which team comes out stronger mentally, and is able to win each inning. I tip my cap to coach Laval who is a good friend of mine and is a great coach, for gathering an impressive milestone in his career."

UNF head coach Smoke Laval gathered career win No. 600 with the afternoon tilt. The six-run second by UNF was highlighted by a two-run home run by Donnie Dewees and the eight-run third was capped by a three-run home run by Corbin Olmstead. 

A combined 28-hits in afternoon forced both starting pitchers out of the game early as Parker Perez (1-2) was pegged with the loss throwing two innings, and Bryan Baker allowed six-earned and walked seven.

Jacksonville has had no trouble gathering hits as they have bolstered a .437 average in conference play, getting to Baker early as Drew Luther (1-for-4), Cameron Gibson (2-for-3) and JJ Gould (2-for-3) all rallied two RBI afternoons. 

With hits in six of the nine innings, the Dolphins would scratch at the deficit with answers in the fourth and fifth innings—a combined five runs scored. A two-out rally of their own, JJ Gould singled to left, scoring Hays and Gibson who were aboard via walks. Nathan Koslowski (2-for-4) provided a spark to the lineup with a start in center and a RBI afternoon, an RBI single to round out the scoring in the fifth. 

Tying a career-high 3.1 innings pitched, Andrew Ciocia quieted the Ospreys bats to one run in the fourth through the sixth inning, while Ryan Quintero threw two scoreless innings allowing just one hit. 

Justin Russell (2-5) is slated for tomorrow's rubber match, he will be squaring off with Matt Vaka for UNF. Russell went 6.2 innings of no earned run baseball against FGCU, while Vaka pitched against JU in the Mayor's Cup earlier this season and went 4.2 innings allowing four hits.

Game three is underway at 1 p.m. from Harmon Stadium. After, the Dolphins will host Stetson in the fourth installment of the A-Sun conference slate beginning Friday, April 25.

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