JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville University baseball brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but ultimately fell short to Stetson, 7-5, on Friday night at John Sessions Stadium.
 
The Dolphins (6-17, 0-5) rallied to tie the game in the second and to take the lead in the fifth, but were missing the final rally, dropping the ASUN Conference series to the Hatters.
 
"I really liked the fight we had in today's game," said Head Coach Chris Hayes. "The energy in the dugout was good, the guys really competed at the plate.
 
"It was a back-and-forth ballgame, this is what you expect out of this conference."
 
Stetson jumped ahead early, taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. A leadoff single started the night off of Mason Adams, followed by two one-out walks to load the bases. A double down the third base line put the Hatters on top until the second.
 
Duncan Hunter led off the second with a bouncing single to center and Cory Heffron bunted his way on with a base hit down the first base line. Mike Cassala hit a grounder back to the pitcher, who tried to go to third, but no one was covering the bag, which loaded the bases with no outs. Back-to-back sacrifice flies by Jackson Grabsky and Jesus Pacheco tied the game at two.
 
The Hatters retook the lead in the top of the fifth. A leadoff double to right went to third on a deep flyout to right and scored on a sacrifice fly to left to make it 3-2.
 
JU's best scoring inning came in the bottom half of the fifth. Grabsky hit an infield single to short to start the frame, and Pacheco followed with a line drive to center. Ruben Someillan then singled to load the bases and Blake DeLamielleure hit an opposite field single to right to score a run and tie the game at three. Dakota Julylia followed with a hard-hit ball to second to drive in a run and the shortstop threw it away at first trying to turn two, plating a third run of the inning to put the Dolphins on top 5-3.
 
The lead was short-lived, however, as Stetson scored three more in the top of the sixth to go on top for good. They added an insurance run in the seventh and Jacksonville threatened once more in the ninth. Someillan was hit by a pitch with two outs, and went to third on DeLamielleure's single to right that was misplayed by the rightfielder. A flyout to right ended it.
 
ON DECK
 
Jacksonville looks to salvage the series on Saturday at John Sessions Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
COACH'S COMMENTS

 

THREE STRIKES
 

• Ruben Someillan was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning for the second straight night, and wore one for the third game in a row. His JU leading career HBP record is now at 28
• Someillan extended his on-base streak to all 23 games JU has played this season, and Dakota Julylia extended his hit streak to 13
• JU recorded an unconventional strike 'em out-throw 'em out to end the eighth inning. Tyler Naumann fanned his second straight batter on a swinging strikeout for out number two, and the swing interfered with Cory Heffron trying to throw to second, which led to a batter interference call to end the inning