GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville pitching staff allowed only one earned run and Austin Hays' blasted his 13th home run of the season, but second-ranked Florida edged Jacksonville, 3-1, at McKethan Stadium Tuesday.
Jacksonville (22-14) outhit Florida (34-5) with eight hits compared to the Gators' seven, but could not score after the first frame.
Hays' solo blast proved to be the only run of the day for Jacksonville. The Dolphins grabbed three hits off starter Jackson Kowar in the inning, with singles by Parker Perez and JJ Gould sandwiched around Hays' homer. Perez was picked off first prior to the smash.
Kowar gave up five hits in three innings and had a couple of strikeouts. Frank Rubio (3-0) was victorious in relief with just two hits and two strikeouts in 3.2 innings.
Starter Casey Kulina recorded his second consecutive four-strikeout game in his 3.2 innings. The lefty gave up just two hits and walked four batters. He allowed one unearned run off a wild pitch in the fourth.
Buddy Reed led off the inning with a single, then after a JJ Schwarz walk, took third on an error at first on a pickoff attempt. The wild pitch allowed him to score, but Mike Schappell came on in relief and Schwarz was caught stealing to end the frame.
Schappell pitched a short fifth and was benefitted by the second double play turned by the Dolphin infield, but gave up an unearned run in the sixth after Reed reached on an error. He later scored on a Mike Rivera groundout. Schappell went two innings in relief and was billed with the loss to fall to 2-2.
Florida tacked on a run in the seventh on a Jonathan India single.
Ryan Granda pitched two-thirds of an inning and Chris Gau went 1.2 scoreless innings with three hits and fanned three batters.
Parker Perez and Austin Hays each had two hits to lead the Dolphins.
Jacksonville returns home for a three-game series with Atlantic Sun foe Florida Gulf Coast beginning Friday at 6:00 p.m.
