FORT MYERS, Fla. – A resilient effort for Jacksonville University baseball was capped by a three-run ninth inning to break a tie and deliver a 9-7 win at FGCU on Friday night.
 
The Dolphins (12-8, 1-3) rallied to tie the game twice, before Jonah Diaz came through with a two-RBI bases loaded single to propel JU to its first conference win of the season at Swanson Stadium.
 
Things started well offensively for JU, with Chase Malloy and Diaz drawing walks to start the game. Christian Coipel put the Dolphins on the board with a sacrifice fly and Jake Berg followed that with an opposite field single to drive in another and give JU a 2-0 lead in the first.
 
FGCU quickly got on the board to answer. A leadoff double, followed by a single, a sacrifice fly and an RBI triple tied the game at two and an RBI infield single gave the Eagles the 3-2 lead after one.
 
JU responded in the top of the second. Cam Ridley legged out an infield single with one out and stole second. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Coipel's RBI single to tie the game at three.
 
After that, the pitching settled in. JU starter Mason Adams worked his way out of trouble in the second, when FGCU loaded the bases against him with one out. He struck out the next two batters to leave them loaded. In the third, FGCU collected a pair of hits and had runners at the corners, but a flyout and groundout ended the threat. After allowing only one baserunner in the fourth, a one-out triple off Adams in the fifth put his back against the wall again. This time, he was not able to hold, as a wild pitch with two outs gave the Eagles a 4-3 lead.
 
The lead grew to 6-3 in the sixth when FGCU collected a leadoff single, got a hit batsman and cleared the bases with a double.
 
JU kept threatening, finally breaking through in the seventh. Berg picked up a one-out single, the first of four straight hits for the Dolphins off of an Eagle reliever. Jesus Pacheco lined one for a base knock and Jackson Grabsky drove both in with his single to left. After Grabsky stole second, Tommy Joseph sent one to the outfield to score him and tied the game at six.
 
It remained tied until the ninth, with Blake Barquin stranding men at second and third in both of his innings of work. Grabsky led off the ninth with a screaming single off the glove of the third baseman and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Ridley and Malloy both drew walks to load the bases to bring up Diaz. The freshman fell behind 0-2, but fouled off three of the next four pitches before shooting one the other way to plate two. Malloy advanced all the way to third when no one covered the bag on the play, and scored on a double steal the next at-bat.
 
Tyler Vogel struck out one and surrendered one run in the bottom of the ninth, inducing a flyout to right with the tying run at the plate to earn his seventh save of the year.
 
ON DECK
 
Jacksonville tries for the series win on Saturday afternoon at FGCU. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
THREE STRIKES
 

• Jonah Diaz's ninth-inning go-ahead hit extended his hit streak to 14 games and he has reached base safely in 17 straight games
• All nine starters in the JU lineup collected at least one hit, with Christian Coipel, Blake DeLamielleure, Jake Berg and Jackson Grabsky recording multiple; Grabsky had three
• The two team combined to leave 25 men on base in the game