JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville posted two walkoff, extra-inning victories in sweeping a doubleheader against Florida Gulf Coast Saturday at Sessions Stadium.
Jacksonville (24-14, 6-2) saw Franco Guardascione deliver a sacrifice fly in game one for a 4-3 (10 inn.) win and Sam Armstrong hit a three-run home run in a 6-3 (12 inn.) game two victory over Florida Gulf Coast (19-20, 5-3).
Game One:
Franco Guardascione's sacrifice fly to centerfield scored JJ Gould and Jacksonville came away with a 4-3 victory in 10 innings.
Gould led off the inning with a double to left, and Armstrong followed with a base on balls. Angel Camacho laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners, and Connor Stephens was intentionally walked to load the bases. Guardascione then struck a sacrifice fly to centerfield for the game winner.
With two outs in the ninth, FGCU tied the game on a single by Zach Spivey off closer Mike Cassala. Against the previous batter Matt Reardon, Cassala made a glove flip to catcher Franco Guardascione on a squeeze bunt and the runner from third was out at the plate.
Mike Schappell (3-2) got the win by shutting down the Eagle order in the 10th. Sterling Koerner (2-4) was hung with the loss with one run off one hit and two walks in 1.2 innings.
Armstrong began the scoring with a two-run double in the first. Perez reached on an error at short and JJ Gould singled to centerfield to set the scene for Armstrong's 11th two-bagger of the year.
Gould added to the Dolphin lead with a leadoff home run to centerfield in the sixth.
FGCU threatened with the bags full and no outs in the seventh, but the Dolphins turned in a huge double play on a fly out to left by Matt Reardon, and Jake Smith was out at third after leaving the bag before Nathan Koslowski recorded the catch in left. The Eagles did put a run on the board with a Spivey RBI single.
Michael Baumann worked seven innings in a no-decision. He allowed six hits, two runs with one earned, two walks, and had three strikeouts. Baumann worked a no-hitter until the fourth inning, when Tyler Selesky smacked a solo home run over the right field wall with one out.
Kyle Arjona pitched the eighth against FGCU and was benefited by the second double play turned by the Dolphins defense of the game. Armstrong took away a hard line drive to third and doubled off the runner at first.
Brady Anderson lasted eight innings and gave up nine hits, three runs with two earned, three walks, and had two strikeouts.
Game Two:
Sam Armstrong hit his second home run of the year in walkoff fashion for a 6-3 Jacksonville victory in 12 innings. His blow came with one out in the inning and was a no-doubter to right field.
"I sat on a changeup that the pitcher left high and cranked it," said Armstrong. "It was fun to celebrate with my teammates afterward and being with them in that moment was a blessing."
Jacksonville tied the game after the seventh inning stretch with a pair of two-out runs. Koslowski led off the action with a hot-shot single up the middle, and later advanced to second on a Perez groundout. Starter Garrett Anderson was replaced by reliever Clint Knoblauch, who hit Austin Hays on his first pitch. Gould then singled to left to score Koslowski, and an error in left gave way for Hays to score the tying run. Christian Townsend replaced the hurler after just two batters ended the inning with a groundout.
Anderson went 6.2 innings with eight hits, two earned runs, a walk, and two strikeouts, while Townsend pitched 3.1 scoreless frames with just two hits.
Like Baumann, Nathan Disch worked a no-hitter until the fourth, when Jake Noll singled up the middle and scored Reardon after his leadoff walk.
Gould answered for the Dolphins with his second solo home run of the day, this time as a leadoff batter in the fourth.
The Eagles regained the lead in the fifth. With two outs and a couple of runners in scoring position, a wild pitch by Disch allowed Jake Smith to score and the Eagles moved back in front, 2-1.
In the sixth, FGCU struck for one run on three hits, capped by an RBI single to right field by Smith.
After a short seventh inning, Disch left with six hits, three runs, two walks, and three strikeouts in his seven innings.
Chris Gau, Ryan Granda, and Jeff Tanner combined to throw five scoreless innings. Tanner picked up the win with just one hit and three strikeouts over a season-long 3.2 innings to move to 2-0 on the year.
Ryan Lang (2-4) was saddled with the loss after allowing the three-run home run.
Jacksonville concludes the series with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch tomorrow for Bark in the Park Day at Sessions Stadium.
"We need to come out ready tomorrow and not sit back on two wins today. We need to jump on them early," said Armstrong.
