JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Jacksonville University Baseball (3-4) fell to the Georgia Southern Eagles (3-5) for a midweek loss on Wednesday, 9-7.
JU strung together five late runs in an attempt to comeback, but the gap proved to be too much. Head Coach Chris Hayes stated "Every time we get on the field, it's a great opportunity for us to grow. We have a lot of young players who are getting tremendous experience, and we are going to continue to work with them as they develop. I am really encouraged where we are, but we have to continue fighting and stay hungry."
For the Dolphins, Blake Barquin (0-1) got his first start of the season and went four innings, with two strikeouts and walked one. Barquin took the loss, his first of the season.
In the top of the first for the Eagles, a leadoff double down the right-field line had Georgia Southern cooking early. Later in the inning, the Eagles were able to grab the early lead on a sacrifice fly to deep center, as the sac fly made it 1-0. Barquin struck out the next Georgia Southern hitter to end the top half of the first.
The Dolphins and Eagles shared zeros in the bottom of the first and top of the second as Jacksonville was set to bring up the five-six-seven hitters. Conner Spelman led off with a walk, and Abdriel Delgado was able to tie the game at one apiece on an RBI triple. Still with nobody out, Jaden Bastian hit in an RBI that broke the tie, giving Jacksonville a 2-1 lead. With Tanner Zellem stepping in, Bastian took second with a stolen base. However, Jacksonville stranded the runner after three straight groundouts.
As we moved to the third with a 2-1 Jacksonville lead, Georgia Southern responded as they came up to the plate, as the Eagles added two runs on the board to take back the lead 3-2, but Barquin got out of the inning with a groundout to third.
The Eagles were back at it in the top of the fourth looking to extend their lead. The first batter for Georgia Southern reached safely on a Jacksonville throwing error and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. A hit by pitch put two on, and a bunt for a hit loaded the bases. A pair of base hits extended the Georgia Southern lead to 5-2. Then the Eagles hit a grand slam making the score now 9-2. Barquin got through it without further damage.
After Jacksonville was sat down in order in the bottom of the fourth, Perry took over on the mound for the Dolphins and made quick work of Georgia Southern, getting a three-up, three-down inning.
Jacksonville was trying to chip away at their 9-2 deficit. Cade Hentz drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the fifth. A base hit into right field off the bat of Will Gale put runners at first and second. With a runner in scoring position, Justin Nadeau knocked a base hit into right field that scored one, but a throwing error by Georgia Southern allowed a second runner to score to make it 9-4.
The score remained 9-4 going into the eighth as Garrett Corbett took over for Layton Perry on the mound. Perry, the Junior from local Ponte Vedra Beach, went three innings and struck out two batters. He did not walk any Eagles hitters nor give up any runs. Corbett made quick work of the Eagles, with some help from his catcher, Conner Spelman, who threw a dart down to second base to catch a runner trying to steal.
Spelman led off the home half of the eighth with a single to center field. After Spelman stole second base, Delgado slapped a ball to the second baseman who threw it away, which allowed Spelman to score from second, making the score now 9-5 Eagles. Later in the inning, Tanner Zellem reached safely on a fielder's choice, but a throwing error (E6) allowed Delgado to score from second to cut it to 9-6. Will Gale was able to drive in the run from second on an RBI double, making it a two-run Dolphin deficit, 9-7.
Divine Valle took over on the rubber for the ninth inning. He threw a scoreless half-inning, giving Jacksonville a chance down two going into the bottom of the ninth. "The bullpen (Layton Perry, Garrett Corbett, Divine Valle) were phenomenal; they really gave us a chance to come back in the middle of the game." Hayes commented.  However, Georgia Southern clinched the win with a scoreless bottom of the ninth.
"Loved the competitiveness of our squad, but we have a lot of things we need to clean up. I feel like in each phase of the game, we didn't produce to the degree of our ability. It's encouraging to see that competitiveness, and if we clean up our mistakes, we can be a pretty good team." added Hayes postgame.
Three Strikes:
- Will Gale extended his hitting streak to seven games.
- Layton Perry went a season-long three innings.
- The Jacksonville bullpen combined for 5 scoreless innings.
On Deck:
Jacksonville will stay home for a weekend series against the Ball State Cardinals this upcoming weekend. Part one of the series is scheduled for Friday, March 1 at 6:00 pm at John Sessions Stadium.
