COLUMBIA, S.C. – A back-and-forth offensive affair ended with Jacksonville University baseball coming up short against #3 seed Virginia 13-8 in the elimination game of the NCAA Baseball Championship Columbia Regional on Saturday at Founders Park.
 
The Dolphins (16-34) came from behind to take the lead twice, but a big sixth inning put the Cavaliers ahead for good and brought JU's storybook run to an end.
 
"Our guys really fought at the plate and held on on the mound until that one big inning," said Head Coach Chris Hayes. "I was really happy with the way the guys competed, the energy was great, all the way to that last out."
 
Virginia took an early 1-0 lead, but it could have been more. With two on and no one out, a double to the left field gap eluded a diving Ruben Someillan and drove in a run, but Elias Flowers connected with Dakota Juylia, whose relay throw to Cory Heffron beat the runner to the plate for the first out. After that, Mike Cassala settled in and got the next two outs to strand the runner at second.
 
In the top of the second, Cassala led off with a single and Jackson Grabsky doubled to left. Cassala was out at the plate on a grounder to first, but Duncan Hunter lofted a sacrifice fly to center to tie it at one.
 
After Virginia went up 2-1 in the bottom half, JU used a four-run third to take its first lead. Someillan sent a single to right to lead off the inning, and Julylia followed up with a line drive to center. Christian Coipel lined a ball off the wall in right, but was limited to a single to load the bases. Cassala went the other way to tie the game with an RBI single to right and Jackson Grabsky followed that up with a single through the hole at short to put the Dolphins ahead. Flowers and Hunter hit successive sacrifice flies to make it 5-2.
 
Virginia got one in the bottom of the third and two more in the fourth to tie the game. Flowers made a sliding catch in left to end the inning and leave the bases loaded and keep it tied at five.
 
In the top of the fifth, Coipel was hit by a pitch and Cassala followed up with his third hit of the day. Grabsky sacrificed the runners over and a wild pitch brought in one run before Flowers drove in a second with his second sacrifice fly of the day to put JU back on top 7-5.
 
A double and a walk off of Tyler Naumann in the fifth, followed by a pair of singles plated one run, but Flowers threw a strike to the plate to gun out the second runner and end another inning with spectacular defense and preserve the lead.
 
Virginia's big sixth started with a single and a walk to conclude a 12-pitch walk. A wild pitch moved the runners up, and set up an RBI single to tie it, with an error in foul territory after the hit leading to the go-ahead run scoring. After a pitching change, a two-run homer and two more RBI singles put the Cavs up 11-7.
 
JU got one back in the seventh, when Grabsky lined his second double of the day to the wall in left to plate Coipel, but that was the end of the scoring for the Dolphins. UVa tacked on two more in the eighth for the final margin.
 
THREE STRIKES
 

• Dakota Julylia and Jackson Grabsky both got hits in their last at-bats of the season to finish over .300
• Jesus Pacheco's hit-streak ended at 13 games, but his on-base streak extended to 23 games
• This game concluded the 65th season of Jacksonville University baseball with its 16th NCAA Regional appearance after the program's eighth conference championship