DELAND, Fla. – Jacksonville University baseball jumped out to an early lead, but fell behind and a late rally came up short, falling 5-3 to Stetson on Thursday night at Melching Field.
The Dolphins (26-24, 12-15) brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth before dropping the series opener.
Chase Malloy got things started on a high note, legging out a leadoff triple to left. He later scored on
Christian Coipel's RBI single to right to give the Dolphins the early 1-0 advantage.
Stetson answered quickly, getting a leadoff double of their own, and scoring the runner to tie the game at one, before a 4-6-3 double play ended the inning.
Neither team scored again until the fourth, when the leadoff man walked, followed by a hit batsman and a bunt single to load the bases. A sacrifice fly gave the Hatters the lead, and a wild pitch allowed another run to score, giving Stetson a 3-1 lead before
Tyler Naumann came in out of the bullpen and retired the first two he faced to strand two men in scoring position.
Stetson struck again in the fifth, with a leadoff single and a walk putting two men on to start the frame. A wild pitch moved the runners up, and a groundball to short brought in one run. An RBI double followed that and extended the Hatter advantage to 5-1.
Malloy stroked a double to left for his second extra-base hit of the night, took third on a wild pitch and scored on
Elias Flowers' sacrifice fly to cut the Stetson lead to 5-2 in the sixth. JU did not threaten again until the ninth. Coipel picked up his third hit of the night on a single to start the frame. He advanced on a groundout to second and went to third on
Tommy Joseph's single to center.
TJ Curd pinch-hit and sliced a fly to left that scored Coipel, but
Jesus Pacheco lined out to center to end it.
ON DECK
Jacksonville looks to even the series on Friday morning, with the game time moved up to 10 a.m. to try and beat forecasted weather in DeLand tomorrow.
THREE STRIKES
- Chase Malloy hit his first triple of the season and his team-leading 13th double of the year
- Christian Coipel logged his third three-hit game of the season, and his 13th multi-hit game of the year
- Mason Adams registered three more strikeouts, and is now at 99 on the year
