STATESBORO, Ga. – Jacksonville University baseball put the tying run on in the ninth, but ultimately fell to Georgia Southern, 4-3, at J.I. Clements Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Dolphins (7-27) tied the game in the second and it stayed that way until the Eagles took the lead for good in the sixth.
The scoring started early, with GSU getting on the board in the bottom of the first and JU immediately answering in the second. The Eagles hit a two-run home run and Jacksonville tied it at two with one of its own, as
Cory Heffron straightened out a foul ball to left to leave the yard for the third time this season.
The pitching was strong for much of the game, as
Christian Graham settled down after giving up the home run in the first to hold the Eagles scoreless over his next four innings of work. He was relieved in the sixth, and the Eagles got a run on a sacrifice fly to take the lead.
They added a run in the seventh, when they loaded the bases and scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 4-2.
In the eighth, JU climbed within one, after
Jesus Pacheco led off the inning reaching on an infield single, beat out an attempted double play to advance to second, went to third on a
Christian Coipel single and scored on
Jackson Grabsky's sacrifice fly.
Mike Cassala pinch-hit in the ninth and drew a walk, but the Dolphins could not advance him.
ON DECK
Jacksonville continues its road-warrior ways, traveling down to DeLand to face Stetson for a weekend series, starting Friday night at 6:30 pm.
THREE STRIKES
- Christian Graham pitched a career-high 5.1 innings in the start
- Ruben Someillan was hit by the 30th pitch of his career, extending his on-base streak to all 34 games this season
- Cory Heffron collected his fifth multi-hit game of the season
