JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville University baseball staked starting pitcher Trent Palmer an early lead, and that's all he needed, as the junior righty went complete in a dominant 16-1 win over Illinois State at John Sessions Stadium on Friday night.
 
The Dolphins (6-8) used an eight-run third to blow it open, and Palmer tied a program single-game record with 13 strikeouts in another impressive outing.
 
Jacksonville took a 2-0 lead in the first, the ninth time this season that the Dolphins have struck first. Ruben Someillan led off with a single and went to third on Scott Dubrule's double before Anthony George drove them both in with a single.
 
The big inning came in the third, when Jacksonville brought 12 men to the plate and drove in eight. George doubled with one-out and scored on Christian Coipel's fourth home run of the year. Jacob Southern walked and Cory Heffron doubled, leading to the first of Illinois State's five pitching changes on the night. Elias Flowers drove in Southern with a sacrifice fly, and four consecutive walks loaded the bases and then pushed in two runs. George came back up and doubled for the second time in the inning, scoring two more and making it 10-0 after three.
 
Palmer (2-1) was able to do what he does best after that, and that was fill the strike zone, inducing mostly groundouts and strikeouts. Illinois State got to him for a one-out triple in the fifth that came home to score, but that was all the Redbirds could manage.
 
Jacksonville tacked on one more in the fifth, on a Southern solo shot to left, and five more in the eighth, using three walks, and bases loaded hit-by-pitch, two errors a sacrifice fly and a Dakota Julylia RBI single to pad the lead.
 
Palmer got a double play turned by Julylia to end the eighth and set a new personal best in innings pitched, before returning for the ninth and striking out the side to end it, tying the program strikeout record on a 3-2 slider to the final batter he faced.
 
CHANATRY COACH'S COMMENT

 

ON DECK
 
Jacksonville plays a double header at home on Saturday, starting with the VCU Rams at 2 p.m., then facing Illinois State again after that. RHP Mike Cassala starts for the Dolphins in the first game, with RHP Tyler Santana taking the ball in game two.
 
HODGES MAZDA PLAYER OF THE GAME
 
RHP Trent Palmer bested his career performance of the week before, earning a second-straight Friday night win by becoming the first Dolphin pitcher to fire a complete game since Chris Gau did it on March 4, 2018 at Stetson. He was the first winning pitcher in a complete effort since Casey Kulina went the distance to help Jacksonville capture the ASUN Regular Season Championship on May 20, 2017 at North Florida. He tied the program record for strikeouts with 13, matching Chris Anderson and Brian Williams's total. Anderson accomplished the feat most recently, registering the K record on March 1, 2013 vs. TCU.

 

NOTABLES
 

• Scott Dubrule continued his streaks to start the year. He now has a hit in 12 consecutive games and has reached base in all 14 contests this season. Hitting .464, he is back to leading the ASUN Conference
• Christian Coipel hit his ASUN Conference leading fourth home run of the year. His 13 RBI are best on the team and tied for second most in the league
• Anthony George had his first three-hit game as a Dolphin, and also became the first since Jacob Southern on May 10, 2019 to record five RBI in a game
• With Trent Palmer's 13 strikeouts tonight, the season total for Jacksonville pitching went up to 143
• The 16 runs scored were a season-high, and the most scored since Jacksonville beat Jacksonville State 16-7 on Feb. 24, 2019 at home. The 15 run margin of victory was the greatest since the Dolphins beat Brown 15-0 on March 9, 2019 in seven innings at home