March 8, 2005
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida's Marion Knowles was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and fell just inches short of hitting for the cycle on Tuesday night as UNF upended future Atlantic Sun Conference foe Belmont 11-7 in action at the Kennel Club Classic.
Knowles tripled in the first inning, singled in the third and doubled in the sixth at Harmon Stadium, but his eighth-inning drive to centerfield fell just short - keeping him from completing the sequence with a home run.
A five-run sixth inning proved decisive for UNF (13- 6), which won its fifth game in a row - all against Division I opponents - by pounding out 13 hits and taking advantage of five Belmont errors.
Colin Fender (4-0) pitched 4.2 innings of relief, allowing six hits and two earned runs, to earn the win. Josh Papelbon pitched out of bases-loaded jams in the eighth and ninth innings to record his sixth save.
Despite committing five errors, Belmont pitchers allowed only one unearned run in the game. Bruins starter Charles Lee (1-1) suffered the loss, allowing eight earned runs in 5.2 innings of work.
The Bruins took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI-single by Ben Petsch and a two-run homer by Sam Grooms. UNF answered with three runs in the bottom of the first, then added another in the second and two more in the third to move ahead 6-3.
Belmont's Kane Simmons tied the game in the fourth with a three-run home run off Fender, but UNF's five- run outburst in the sixth put the game away for the Ospreys. A Brooks West solo home run put the Ospreys ahead 7-6, and UNF followed with an RBI-triple by Matt Oxendine, Jon Skorupski's RBI-single and Knowles' two-run double.
Oxendine was 2-for-4 with two RBIs for UNF, while Josh Howard was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Simmons was 3-for-4 for the Bruins, highlighting a 12-for-25 performance by the bottom of the Belmont batting order.
UNF returns to action on Wednesday against another future Atlantic Sun Conference foe when the Ospreys play Campbell at Harmon Stadium. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
