FORT MYERS, Fla. – Jacksonville University baseball could not hold an early lead, falling 10-5 to FGCU on Saturday at Swanson Stadium.
 
The Dolphins (12-9, 1-4) gave up eight runs over the course of the third and fourth innings, the difference in the game.
 
It started well, with Chase Malloy singling to center on the first pitch of the game. Jonah Diaz followed that with a single of his own and Christian Coipel drove in Malloy with a base-hit. Jesus Pacheco sacrificed the runners over and Jake Berg went the other way to drive in two and give JU a 3-0 lead in the first.
 
FGCU took a leadoff walk and passed ball and used a single to left to score its first run of the game, but Michael Darrell-Hicks bore down and struck out a pair to end the inning.
 
He sat down the Eagles in order in the second before the third, when FGCU brought 10 men to the plate, scoring five runs on four hits, two walks and a hit batsman and took a 6-3 lead.
 
JU got one back in the top of the fourth, with Jackson Grabsky reaching on a two-base throwing error by the shortstop and taking third on a wild pitch, setting up Cam Ridley for a sacrifice fly.
 
FGCU came right back in the bottom of the fourth, greeting reliever Leighton Alley with three straight singles and then a two-run double to push the lead to 9-4.
 
Alley sat down FGCU in order in the fifth and gave up one more run, on a solo homer, before giving way to Tyler Naumann, who did not allow a run in 2.2 innings of relief.
 
As the pitching settled down throughout the game, the bats struggled to come up with the clutch hit. Coipel doubled to lead off the third, but was stranded at third, and singled to start the fifth, before being erased in a double play. Consecutive singles by Blake DeLamielleure and Jackson Grabky in the sixth were followed by a double steal, but again, the Dolphins came up empty with a chance to drive them in.
 
With two outs in the eighth, Grabsky singled to short and advanced to second when the FGCU shortstop tried to throw him out from his knees and sailed the throw. Tommy Joseph drove him in with a single to center to make it 10-5, but JU never got any closer.
 
ON DECK
 
The series is still in reach, as Jacksonville faces FGCU in the rubber match on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
 
THREE STRIKES
 

• Christian Coipel recorded his first three-hit game of the season, and now has multi-hit games in six of his last eight games
• Jackson Grabsky recorded his second-straight multi-hit game
• Trace Burchard replaced Jake Berg behind the plate in the fifth inning to make his 2022 season debut