SPARTANBURG, S.C – Jacksonville University baseball erased a late deficit on the road to take game one in extra innings over USC Upstate Friday night.
JU (32-17, 9-6) tied it in the eighth and plated two in the top of the eleventh to win 5-3 over the Spartans (23-25-1, 5-11) on a rainy night at Harley Field.
"Just a complete team effort," said Head Coach Chris Hayes. "Monumental effort by this entire group to stop a little bit of a skid that we were going through."
Jacksonville's hit a one-out double in the eleventh and advance to the third when the ball was misplayed in left. One batter later, Chris Lehane bounced a base-hit to right past the infield in and gave JU the lead for good.
"I knew first available pitch just to find a hole," said Lehane. "I was pretty relaxed, just like always, trying to get a job done."
"Our guys continued to grind out those at bats and did a really good job of finishing this ballgame," said Hayes.
JU took the lead in the fifth when Lehane led off the inning being hit by a pitch. He stole second and then stole third, coming home to score when the catcher threw the ball away trying to catch him.
Lehane moved up to the leadoff spot on Wednesday, and is 4-8, with four runs scored in the last two games.
"Nothing really changes for me moving up one spot in the lineup," said Lehane. "My approach everytime I come to the plate is to have a quality at bat, hit something hard, and most importantly get on base."
USC Upstate answered back in the seventh to take a 3-1 lead. Four consecutive two-out singles ended JU starter Chris Gau's night, breaking his streak of 10 games in a row pitching at least seven innings. Trent Palmer relieved him, and threw a wild pitch that led to another run.
JU got one back in the seventh, when Duncan Hunter led off the inning getting hit by a pitch. Someillan followed it up with a single and Lehane bunted them into scoring position. Scott Dubrule hit a sacrifice fly to left to make it 3-2.
Sam Armstrong led off the eighth inning with a solo home run, his sixth of the year, to tie it at three.
Both teams put runners on ninth, but a one-out flyout to center ended the inning when Dubrule was thrown out trying to take second. The Spartans singled to start the ninth and bunted the runner into scoring position before Chris Mauloni (3-1) entered the game and struck out the next two to force extras.
Jacksonville managed nothing more than a Cory Garrastazu single in the tenth, and USC Upstate put two on against Mauloni via a hit by pitch and infield single with two outs, before he stranded another with a strikeout.
After Lehane drove in the winning run, he advanced from first to third on a failed pick-off attempt. Dubrule then picked up his second sacrifice fly of the night to give the Dolphins insurance.
Mauloni struck out two more to end in the bottom of the eleventh. He finished the night with seven strikeouts in 2.2 innings.
"It started on the mound," said Hayes. "Gau didn't have his greatest stuff tonight, but he really competed.
"Palmer and Mauloni came in and held, did what they do and gave our hitters a chance."
Jacksonville sends Spencer Stockton to the mound tomorrow looking to earn a series win. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
"Ultimately, momentum is as good as the next day's starter, however this was a fight tonight and these guys came out ahead," said Hayes. "Great job of finishing tonight and we look forward to getting after it tomorrow."
