JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville University baseball rallied to take the lead late, but ultimately fell 3-2 to North Florida on Friday night at Harmon Stadium.
The Dolphins (19-11, 5-2) lost in a one-run game for just the third time in 11 games this season.
"The inability to execute [was the difference in this one]," said Head Coach
Chris Hayes. "We had a couple of chances to put them away and a couple of balls late that we couldn't keep in the infield.
"We didn't do a good enough job offensively or defensively."
Both pitchers settled in early, with the game scoreless through two. In the third,
Tyler Santana ran into a bit of trouble, walking the bases loaded before inducing a ground out to first that scored a run. After an intentional walk loaded the bases again, one pitch later he induced a ground ball double play to get out of the inning trailing only 1-0.
In the fifth, JU started the get the offense going. A one-out walk to
Jacob Southern was followed by a
Cory Garrastazu single to right set up
Reagan Wright's two-out RBI single to left to tie it up at one.
In the seventh, JU struck again, this time when Southern led off the inning with a double and Garrastazu bunted him down to third. With two-outs again, Wright came to the plate and hit a grounder up the middle. The second baseman's charging throw to first was low and the error allowed Southern to score to give the Dolphins a 2-1 lead.
The lead was shortlived. Santana, who settled down after the third to retire 12 Ospreys in a row until a single to left with two outs in the seventh ended that streak. A seeing-eye single up the middle at the conclusion of an eight pitch at-bat ended Santana's night, and despite the strong start, he did not factor into the decision.
Jagger McCoy (1-2) relieved Santana, and the next batter singled into left to tie the game at 2-2.
The Ospreys came back in the eight and the leadoff man walked and was bunted to second. With two-outs, a ball hit to the right side led to an error by Wright at first and the game-winning coming in to score.
Jacksonville dropped the opening game of the series for the first time in ASUN Conference play, and the Dolphins fell to 4-2 on the current eight game road trip. JU looks to even the series tomorrow afternoon at 2:05 p.m.
