ORLANDO, Fla. – Jacksonville University baseball erased an early deficit and rolled to a road victory over UCF on Tuesday night at John Euliano Park.
The Dolphins (19-15) avenged a loss to the Knights just a week prior, and captured a third consecutive win overall.
UCF got off to a strong start, taking a 2-0 lead in the second with a two-out rally. A single to right was followed by a double down the third base line. A wild pitch scored the first run and bloop single to right scored another run.
Heston Mosley buckled down to get the final out of the inning on a strikeout looking, and stranded two men on.
JU quickly answered in the third.
Jackson Grabsky smoked a single off the glove of the third baseman and
Cam Ridley drew a walk. The runners took off on a 2-1 pitch that
Chase Malloy smacked off the wall in left to plate them both and tied the game at two. Malloy advanced to third on a groundout to short and scored on a passed ball to give the Dolphins a 3-2 lead.
The Dolphins added two in the fifth.
Tommy Joseph singled to start the inning, but was erased in a fielder's choice for the second out later in the frame. Ridley stole second base, Malloy walked and
Jonah Diaz floated a single to right field to drive in both runners and make it 5-2.
Mosley settled in the rest of his outing, allowing only two base runners the rest of the way, stranding men in scoring position in both the third and the fifth. He gave way to
Luke Baker, who allowed only one baserunner over three scoreless innings of relief.
The game was blown open in the seventh. Ridley was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. With one out, Diaz drew a walk and
Christian Coipel was also hit to load the bases. A wild pitch scored Ridley and
Blake DeLamielleure walked to load the bases again.
Jake Berg hit an opposite-field RBI single and
Jesus Pacheco lifted a sacrifice fly to right. Joseph smacked a single to center to score a fourth run of the inning and JU led 9-2 after seven.
Richard Long came in and pitched a scoreless ninth to finish it off.
ON DECK
Jacksonville heads north to face Kennesaw State in three-game series starting on Friday night at 5 p.m.
THREE STRIKES
- Chase Malloy hit his team-high ninth double of the season, the most doubles for a Dolphin since 2019
- JU stole four bases, with Blake DeLamielleure stealing second and third in the sixth inning for his second multi-steal game of the season
- Tommy Joseph collected the first three-hit game of his career
