JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville University baseball used a complete game effort from Richard Long to win 2-1 over North Florida on Friday night at John Sessions Stadium.
 
The Dolphins (32-22, 16-13) captured the series win over the Ospreys and officially clinched a spot in the ASUN Baseball Championship next week in DeLand, Fla.
 
"This performance tonight out of Richie Long is one that is going to stick with me for a long time," said Head Coach Chris Hayes. "Really special, great effort, great execution. He battled through a little bit of a mess early, and defensively we came up clutch."
 
Long's success started thanks to his ability to work through traffic in the early innings without ever allowing much damage. In the first, the Ospreys loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk, but a 4-6-3 double play ended the inning without a run crossing. The leadoff man was hit by a pitch to start the second, but again, the Dolphins turned two, this time 6-4-3, and it was scoreless through two. The Ospreys pressured Long and the JU defense again in the third, and finally broke through, using a hit batsman, followed by a double and a sacrifice fly to get on the board. A flyout to center stranded a man at third and kept it at just 1-0.
 
The Dolphins took the lead for good in the fourth by stringing together three consecutive hits. Josh Steidl flared a single to left center, and Tommy Joseph ripped a triple into the right field corner to tie the game at one. Hogan McIntosh immediately followed with a single to left to plate Joseph and give Long just enough to work with.
 
Long faced just one more than the minimum as he cruised through the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. A leadoff single started the seventh for UNF, but Long induced another groundball to short that turned into JU's third double-play turned of the night, and the Ospreys were vanquished again before the stretch.
 
After a quick 1-2-3 eighth, Long came out again to finish what he started, still under 100 pitches on the night at that point. Things were not easy, but the Dolphins made the plays again when they needed them. The first batter reached on an error, the lone miscue of the night for JU defensively. Long then engaged in a battle in which the UNF batter fouled off multiple two-strike pitches before striking out on a 3-2 slider. Then, the game ended in the most fitting way possible, with the fourth and final double play of the night turned by JU, on a liner to first baseman Colin Wetterau that he caught and stepped on the bag to secure the final.
 
"I was feeling great and wanted to finish this thing," said Long. "I knew I had to compete and we had to win this game to get into the [ASUN] tournament and to get in like that is the best feeling."

COACH'S COMMENTS

 

ON DECK
 
Jacksonville concludes the regular season with a 1 p.m. first pitch in the series finale vs. North Florida at John Sessions Stadium. The day begins with Senior Day festivities, scheduled to start at 12:35 p.m.
 
THREE STRIKES
 

• Richard Long threw JU's first complete game win since Tyler Santana went the distance in a 2-1 victory over UCF on March 19, 2021
• The four double plays turned was the most by the Dolphins in one game since June 3, 2018 in the Gainesville Regional vs. Florida Atlantic
• The win was the 23rd at home this season, the most in a single-season since the program won 24 in 1997