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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – North Florida (39-17) added another chapter to season littered with thrilling, late-game victories. Senior
Dakota Higdon broke up a 0-0 pitcher's duel in the bottom of the 10
th inning with a walk-off triple.
The two-out triple to right-center brought home
Bubba Olivera from first base who reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the inning. The walk-off win was the sixth of the season for North Florida and the 10th in its final turn at bat. The Ospreys are winners of their last eight games and have emerged victorious in all four extra-inning games this season.
The game was starving for runs as Osprey starting pitcher
Austin Drury and Lipscomb's Jeffrey Passantino were engaged in a fierce pitcher's duel. Drury was nearly flawless in eight innings of work. The freshman lefty allowed just four base runners all afternoon and fanned a season-best, eight batters. He worked with remarkable efficiency, recording single-inning pitch counts of 14 or less on five different occasions. A total of 67 of his 97 pitches on the day went for strikes.
Equally as dominant was his counterpart, Passantino. The right-hander pitched into the 10
th inning in a 119-pitch effort. He fanned six batters and scattered six hits. The 9.2 innings pitched was a third of an inning shy of tying the Atlantic Sun mark of 10 innings pitched set back in 1980.
The biggest threat of the game for Lipscomb came in the top of the ninth. Drury exited after giving up a lead-off base hit to ASUN Scholar Athlete of the Year, Lee Solomon. After a sacrifice bunt and a pair of walks, junior
Matthew Naylor was called upon to get the Ospreys out of a bases loaded jam. Making his 30th appearance of the year, a new D-1 era (2006-present) single season record, Naylor struck out the first batter and induced an inning-ending ground out to keep the game scoreless.
Naylor stayed on and worked a perfect 10
th inning and was credited with his fifth win of the season. The win moved him into a tie for the team lead and is his 13
th of his career, tied for the sixth most in the program's D-1 era.
The red-hot Higdon finished the game 2-for-5 with an RBI. It marks his fifth-consecutive multi-hit game. The triple was only the second of his career. In his last five games, the senior is 12-for-21 (.571) with seven runs scored and four RBIs.
Senior
Keith Skinner had one of the seven Osprey hits on the day, his 80
th of the season. For North Florida, it marks the fourth-straight season a player has put together an 80 hit season.
Kyle Brooks led off the game for the second-straight tournament game with a hit, extending his reached base streak to 20 games.
The victory over Lipscomb provided some retribution as it was the Bisons who defeated the Ospreys twice by one run in last year's tournament.
The Ospreys stay in the winner's bracket and will take on Stetson at 1:30 p.m. EST. The Hatters are 2-0 in this year's tournament with wins over Kennesaw State (Wednesday, 13-7) and Jacksonville (Thursday, 9-7).
