KENNESAW, Ga. – After falling behind early and rallying with a five-run third, Jacksonville University baseball dropped the finale to Kennesaw State, 16-5, in seven innings on Sunday.
The Dolphins (25-18, 10-11) were swept for the first time this season.
KSU scored multiple runs in the first inning for the second-straight day. With one-out, seven-straight batters reached, on four singles, a walk and an error, with the big hit, a three-run double, coming to close out that stretch. The Owls eventually brought 12 men to the plate, scoring seven before the first inning ended.
JU pushed back in the third, jumpstarted by
Cam Ridley reaching on a throwing error and advancing to second to start the frame.
Chase Malloy immediately knocked him in on a single to center, then
Elias Flowers walked. With one-out
Justin Nadeau also drew a free pass to load the bases for
Blake DeLamielleure, who blasted a grand slam to center to cut the score to 7-5.
Colin Wetterau and
Josh Steidl collected base knocks, but the rally ended after that.
The Owls consistently answered back whenever JU scored runs all weekend, and kept that trend going in the bottom of the third. After a pair of strikeouts by
Bryce Fisher, a two-out walk set up a two-run homer to center to push the lead back out to four, 9-5, and the Dolphins never got any closer.
Tommy Allman did a nice job stranding baserunners for 2.1 innings, but a bloop single to short that twisted its way out of reach of Malloy made it 10-5. Then, in the sixth, KSU blew the game open, plating six against several different pitchers, including a three-run home run and a two-RBI double.
JU put a pair of men on the seventh, but were not able to push any across, and for the second-straight day, the ASUN Conference run-rule came into effect to end it.
ON DECK
Jacksonville returns home to host Bethune-Cookman at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night at John Sessions Stadium.
THREE STRIKES
