University of North Florida
West Florida
Oxendine home run leads UNF past UWF 2-1
2/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
PENSACOLA, Fla. (Feb. 5, 2005) - Matt Oxendine's two-out, 12th-inning home run lifted the University of North Florida baseball team to a 2-1 win over West Florida on Saturday to help the Ospreys complete a three-game sweep in the weekend series at UWF's Pelican Park.
Five UNF pitchers combined to allow eight hits and keep West Florida's hitters at bay, led by starter Ryan Amason, who pitched five scoreless innings and allowed just three hits. The Argonauts (0-3) scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game, costing Amason the win, but UWF left 11 men on base and couldn't deliver big hits in key situations.
UNF (3-0) committed four errors, two of which led to West Florida's only run in the seventh. Two other miscues put runners at the corners with one out in the bottom of the 12th. Josh Papelbon came on to record his first save of the season, however, inducing a game-ending double play from Jacob Whisenhunt.
"Our guys found a way to win again," UNF head coach Dusty Rhodes said. "We committed some errors, which hurt us, but our pitchers kept us in it and gave us a chance. That is good team over there, and for us to win three games to open the season is big. We did what we had to do, and I'm proud of our guys for getting the job done."
Oxendine came into the 12th inning in a 2-for-15 stretch at the plate but delivered on a 2-1 fastball from Kyle Ramsey (0-2) to break a 1-1 tie and end the second extra-inning game of the series. Oxendine scored the winning run in UNF's 5-4, 15-inning win on Friday afternoon.
On Saturday, Brett Maloley finished 2-for-4 and drove in UNF's first run in the second-inning on a double, scoring Jon Skorupski from second to put UNF up 1-0. Things stayed that way until the seventh, when back-to-back errors by Dennis Anderson and Oxendine set up an RBI-single by UWF's Jacob Ingram off Osprey reliever Jeremy Papelbon.
Tony Polster (1-0) picked up the win, pitching 3.1 scoreless innings before giving way to Josh Papelbon in the bottom of the 12th. Ramsey pitched 3.1 innings, allowing just two hits, but suffered the loss for West Florida.
UNF returns to action this week with two games at home. The Ospreys will face Valdosta State on Tuesday and Florida Tech on Wednesday at Harmon Stadium. Both games will start at 3 p.m. and can be heard on the Internet at www.unf.edu/sports.
