DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Jacksonville University baseball rallied again late to win on the road, defeating Bethune-Cookman 8-7 on Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.
The Dolphins (12-6) scored three in the seventh and two more in the eighth to erase a four-run deficit.
JU got on the board first, when
Chase Malloy walked to lead off the game and advanced to third on
Kris Armstrong's double.
Hogan McIntosh grounded out to first, scoring Malloy to make it 1-0.
The Wildcats tied it in the second, but the Dolphins quickly regained the lead in the third. Malloy again got it started, smacking a double off the left field wall. With two outs, McIntosh came through once more, singling through the right side and putting JU back up 2-1.
In the bottom of the fourth, a line drive to third led off the inning, with a throwing error putting the first BCU runner at second. A single put runners at the corners and the Wildcats tried a squeeze play, but the bunt was popped up the first base line.
Colin Wetterau dove to try and catch it, but the ball landed just out of his reach in fair territory, quickly spinning foul. The umpires ruled that Wetterau had touched the ball in fair territory, and the runner was safe, with the runner at third coming in to score and tie the game at two. A groundout to first added another run, followed by an RBI double to put BCU up 4-2 after four.
JU got back within one in the fifth, with McIntosh reaching on a two-out two-base throwing error and
Justin Nadeau driving him in with a single to center, but BCU tacked on more insurance in the bottom half. After a leadoff walk, the runner stole second and advanced to third on an errant throw into centerfield. Then, after another walk, a run scored on a double steal. An RBI single pushed a second run across, giving the Wildcats a 6-2 lead at the end of five.
A leadoff walk for BCU in the sixth came around to score after a wild pitch, groundout and RBI single.
Entering the seventh trailing 7-3,
Cam Ridley sparked the group by drawing a one-out walk. Armstrong followed with an infield single to short and McIntosh walked to load the bases. Nadeau stepped up and delivered again, driving a ball up the middle that kicked off the diving second baseman into left to score to on a double. A wild pitch then scored Armstrong and JU entered the seventh-inning stretch down 7-6.
After
Divine Valle turned in JU's first defensive 1-2-3 inning of the night,
Elias Flowers and Malloy each received a free passes with one out in the top of the eighth. With two outs, Armstrong drove one up the middle to score Flowers to tie it, and the Wildcats centerfielder threw to third to try and nab Malloy, but the throw sailed, and Malloy raced home to put JU in front.
Jack Carver struck out one and walked one, getting the first two outs of the eighth, with
Chris Lotito registering a strikeout to end the frame. He then allowed a leadoff single to start the ninth, but got an out on a sacrifice bunt, a strikeout, and got the final batter to fly out into foul territory in left to end it.
ON DECK
Jacksonville opens ASUN Conference play this weekend, traveling to Nashville to face off against Lipscomb.
THREE STRIKES
- JU improved to 3-0 on the road, the best road start since the Dolphins last started 3-0 away from home in 2008
- Justin Nadeau collected a career-high three RBI
- Divine Valle earned his first career win with 2.1 innings of one run relief, striking out three
