CONWAY, Ark.- Jacksonville baseball (12-13, 6-1 ASUN) faced off against Central Arkansas (11-14, 3-4 ASUN) on Thursday night and came out of the game with a victory, defeating the Bears 6-5.

With the Dolphins scoring a run in both the eighth and the ninth innings, it proved to be the difference in a tight ballgame till the end frames.

Peyton Prescott started on the mound for the Dolphins, pitching 6.1 innings, giving up four runs (two earned) off six hits, walked one and struck out four.

After a quiet first three innings, Jacksonville came up to bat in the fourth looking to get on the scoreboard. Blake Edmonds did just that, breaking the scoreless tie with a solo shot to right field, which gave the 'Phins a one run lead. This started a rally as Justin Nadeau came up to bat and hit a single, which set up Josh Steidl for a two-run homer to put Jacksonville up 3-0. Chandler Howard kept it going for the Dolphins, adding the third home run of the inning, a solo shot, to make it 4-0.

The Bears quickly responded in the next half inning, as a base knock by a Bears batter knocked in a runner to cut the Jacksonville lead to three, now 4-1.

Central Arkansas continued to chip away at the Jacksonville lead in the bottom of the fifth, cutting the deficit to two after UCA hit in a runner off a 6-3 groundout.
                        
In the bottom of the seventh, the Bears took advantage of a Prescott wild pitch to cut the deficit to 4-3. UCA kept its foot on the gas pedal, and took the lead 5-4 off a two-RBI double, giving the Bears the lead for the first time in the game. Tommy Allman came in and relived Prescott.

The Dolphins came up the plate in the top of the eighth, looking to even things up or take the lead. Steidl got the Dolphins cooking, leading off with a double down the right field line. Abdriel Delgado then stepped up to the plate and hit a base hit directly back to the pitcher, but the ball richocheted off the pitcher's foot to the second basemen. Steidl tried to push it at home to tie things up but was unsuccessful and was thrown out at home. Conner Spelman followed the wild sequence with a full-count walk on the next Dolphin at-bat, which set up Cade Hentz with Spelman on first and Clayton Hodges on second, who had came in to pinch run for Delgado. Hentz got the job done, driving in Hodges to tie things up late at five a-piece.

Allman remained in game and came up clutch, keeping things tied up in the bottom of the eighth with two punchouts.

Will Gale got things started off in the top of the ninth with a base hit on a 3-2 count. Gale advanced to second on a wild pitch and Edmonds earned a base-on-balls after another 3-2 count forced by a Dolphin batter. Gale continued his brilliant baserunning, and advanced to third after a failed pickoff attempt by the Bears pitcher. With Dolphins on the corners, Justin Nadeau came up to the plate and drove in Gale to give Jacksonville the lead late in the game.

With the Dolphins in front 6-5, Jacksonville made the call to the bullpen for Issac Williams to come in to try and close the game. Allman finished with 1.2 innings pitched, gave up only one hit and struck out three. With runners on second and third, Williams forced a groundout to short to end the game, sealing the victory for the Dolphins. Williams walked two but gave up no hits and had a strikeout. The redshirt-freshman secured his fifth save of the season.

"Really proud of this team overall," said head coach Chris Hayes after the game. "The fight and the effort of every guy in this dugout tonight was something special and it feels good to get a team victory like that. We look forward to continue playing with tremendous effort in the series and we are ready to keep battling."

Three Strikes

1. Edmonds, Steidl and Howard all hit homers in the fourth.
2. The pitching staff (Prescott, Allman and Williams) all struck out a combined eight Bears batters.
3. Nadeau had three hits on the day, making it his 12^th multi-hit game of the season, which leads the team.

Up Next

Jacksonville returns back to Bear Stadium on Friday for game two of its weekend series against Central Arkansas. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 PM EST.