LYNCHBURG, Va. – Jacksonville University baseball dropped a pitcher's duel to Liberty on Sunday, falling 2-1 at Liberty Baseball Stadium.
 
The Dolphins (24-21, 10-14) got a complete game from Christian Graham on the mound, but left the tying run in scoring position in the eighth to drop the series.
 
On a cold and blustery day, with temperatures in the high-40s at first pitch, Graham was locked in. He retired the first 11 men he faced to start the game, registering a strikeout to start the second and close the third, with some solid defense behind him backing him up.
 
Elias Flowers drew a walk in the first, but that was all for the Dolphins until the third. Chase Malloy sliced a single into leftcenter and Flowers followed that up with a sharp single to right to put runners at the corners with two outs, but, after a wild pitch advanced Flowers to second, both were left in scoring position.
 
Liberty did all of its damage in the fourth. With two outs, a single to center was the first hit of the game for the Flames. That was followed by consecutive doubles, the latter of the two driving in two, and Liberty led 2-0 after four.
 
Jesus Pacheco led off the fifth with a single, but was caught stealing, which quickly damped the threat. The seventh began with Blake DeLamielleure roped a hit over the head of the first baseman, but was thrown out at second trying to leg out a double.
 
Graham settled back in quickly after surrendering the two runs in the fourth. He worked around a one-out walk in the fifth and started another streak of consecutive men sat down, stretching to 10 straight until the eighth. After a two-out double by Liberty, a sharp hit to first was cut down by a diving Christian Coipel, who flipped to the covering Graham for the final out of the inning and Graham's outing. He threw a career-high eight innings, allowing four hits and the two runs, walking just one and striking out five.
 
In the top of the eighth, JU rattled off three straight hits to load the bases, with Jonah Diaz, Cam Ridley and Malloy all singling. Flowers lifted a sac fly to left to cut it to 2-1, but a groundout ended the threat.
 
ON DECK
 
Jacksonville wraps its 10 game in 12 day stretch, with a double-header on Tuesday in Tallahassee at Florida State starting at 4 p.m.
 
THREE STRIKES
 

• Christian Graham became the first JU pitcher since Chris Gau in 2018 to throw a complete game and take the loss. Gau also fell 2-1 to Stetson in DeLand.
• Chase Malloy recorded his second multi-hit game of the weekend and his team-high 16th of the year
• Jesus Pacheco extended his on-base streak to 11 games