JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A veteran pitcher set the tone and the offense continually produced to fuel Jacksonville University baseball to an 8-2 win over Wofford on Friday night at John Sessions Stadium.
 
The Dolphins (1-8) found ways to consistently execute to lead from the third inning on.
 
"You saw a lot of good things from our team tonight," said Head Coach Chris Hayes. "Offensively, defensively, and especially on the mound."
 
Redshirt-senior pitcher Tyler Santana (1-2) made his 38th start of his JU tenure, and few have been as strong throughout his solid career. After a leadoff infield single to start the night was erased by Cory Heffron trying to steal, Santana sat down the next 12 Terrier batters he faced in a row.
 
Riding the momentum of Santana's strong start, the offense made a lot of contact early, and turned that into runs by the third. Jesus Pacheco singled to centerfield with one out, followed by a Ruben Someillan single to set the table for Tommy Joseph to go the other way with an RBI single to right to give the Dolphins the first run of the night. Duncan Hunter then reached on an error and Someillan scored on the play, before Dakota Julylia cleared the bases with a triple to rightfield to make it 4-0.
 
After Santana threw up another zero in the top half, JU added two more in the bottom of the fourth. Jackson Grabsky singled with one out and Pacheco followed that up with his second hit of the night. After Cory Heffron walked to load the bases, Joseph came through again, driving in two runs with another RBI single to the gap in right centerfield to put JU up 6-0 after four.
 
Santana's first bit of trouble came in the fifth. Back-to-back singles with one out broke up his streak of consecutive baserunners sat down, but the veteran righthander buckled down. He induced a fielder's choice to third and then struck out the next batter to strand two and end the inning.
 
Again, in the seventh, Wofford threatened, but did not score. The leadoff man reached on an error and a one-out single pushed him into scoring position, but Santana ended the inning and his night emphatically, striking out the last two to give him 10 total on the night.
 
Wofford greeted JU reliever Jagger McCoy with three straight hits, including a two-run home run to finally crack the scoreboard in the eighth, but the crafty lefthander settled down, getting the next two outs on a strikeout and a pop-up and the final out unconventionally. A single to right was scooped by Hunter, and the Terrier hitter took a big turn around first. Hunter got the ball in quickly to Christian Coipel at first, who then fed Julylia who made a diving tag to end the inning.
 
The Dolphins got the two runs back in the bottom half of the eighth. Elias Flowers snuck a grounder over the bag at first down the line for a leadoff double, and scored on Grabsky's gapper to right. After Pacheco and Someillan walked to load the bases, Heffron drove in Grabsky on an RBI groundout to push the advantage back to six.
 
ON DECK
 
Jacksonville goes for the series win vs. Wofford on Saturday at John Sessions Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

COACH'S COMMENTS

 

THREE STRIKES
 

• Freshman Jesus Pacheco had two hits in his first fifteen at-bats of his career. He now has four in his last seven
• Tyler Santana earned his first win of the season, in his best outing of the year. He matched his career-high in strikeouts with 10 and recorded the fourth shutout of his career
• The 10 hits and eight runs were both season-highs for the Dolphins