DELAND, Fla. – A fifth-inning rally, followed by dominant relief pitching, fueled Jacksonville University baseball to a 7-5 win at Stetson on Saturday night.
The Dolphins (8-28, 1-13) scored six in the fifth inning to jumpstart the winning effort.
Stetson scored first for the second straight day, taking advantage of a bases loaded situation in the third. A single, double and walk loaded them up and the very next pitch was hit out for a grand slam to give the Hatters a 4-0 advantage.
Jacksonville's offensive moment came in the fifth.
Christian Coipel led off with a single, and
Cory Heffron excuted a perfect hit-and-run to put runners at the corners.
Blake DeLamielleure put the Dolphins on the board with a sacrifice fly to center. Heffron stole second and scored on
Ruben Someillan's RBI single up the middle.
Jesus Pacheco and
Jackson Grabsky were both hit by pitches to lead the bases, setting the table for
Tommy Joseph's bases clearing double.
Mike Cassala delivered an RBI single to right field and Stetson removed their starter after JU scored six runs on five hits and batted around in the inning to take a 6-4 lead.
Stetson would threaten every inning after that, but time and time again the JU pitching rose to the occasion.
Mason Adams got the first two outs of the fifth, before hitting a batter and giving way to
Tyler Naumann, who induced an inning ending groundout.
In the sixth, the Hatters led off with a double. After a groundout advanced him to third, the runner scored on an infield single to short to bring Stetson within one, 6-5, before Naumann fanned the final two batters of the inning.
Again, in the seventh, the Hatters put the tying run on, with a one-out triple. But again, Naumann produced in the clutch, registering two more strikeouts to leave him 90 feet away.
After surrendering a leadoff single in the eighth, Naumann was replaced by
Christian Graham, who struck out the first batter he faced, and walked the next one to move the tying run into scoring position.
Jagger McCoy then entered, striking out the next two batters to keep JU in front.
The Dolphins added an insurance run in the ninth, when Someillan hit a leadoff single, was bunted into scoring position, and scored on Grabsky's single to center.
Stetson got a one-out baserunner in the ninth, but Grabsky turned an unassisted double play to end the final threat and the game.
ON DECK
Jacksonville goes for a series win tomorrow at Melching Field. The Dolphins and Hatters are scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
THREE STRIKES
- Mike Cassala collected three hits, including a double and an RBI single, to lead the Dolphins. It was his second three-hit game of the season
- Ruben Someillan collected his team-high 12th multi-hit game of the season, and extended his on-base streak to all 36 games JU has played this year
- JU pitching recorded 10 strikeouts, seven of them coming in relief
