University of North Florida
Florida Southern
#3 Mocs slip past #2 UNF, 2-1
5/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 10, 2005
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Florida Southern catcher Jeff Howell proved to be a one-man wrecking crew on Tuesday night in a battle between second-ranked North Florida and the third-ranked Mocs.
The backstop scored the game-tying run in the eighth inning on a double by Matt Mercurio and drove in the game-winner with a single in the top of 10th off UNF closer Josh Papelbon to give the Mocs a 2-1 win at Harmon Stadium.
The win snapped a 16-game home winning streak by UNF (40-12) and an 11-game winning streak overall for the Ospreys. Florida Southern (43- 9) won its fifth in a row.
UNF took a 1-0 lead on a Kevin Johnson RBI- single in the fourth inning and held that until the eighth when the Mocs finally broke through. Howell singled with two outs and came around to score on Mercurio's double into the left field corner against UNF reliever Jared Incinelli.
Papelbon and Kyle DeYoung - Florida Southern's closer - entered the game from there. Papelbon pitched a perfect ninth inning before walking Matt Joyce with one out in the 10th. After a groundout advanced Joyce to second, Howell delivered the game-winner on a 0-2 pitch.
DeYoung (6-0) finished the game in the bottom of the 10th, allowing one runner. He allowed two hits and struck out two in three innings to earn the win. Papelbon (6-2) suffered the loss, allowing only his fourth earned run of the season in 51.2 innings.
Brian Reves started for Florida Southern and allowed seven hits and a run in 6.2 innings. He also struck out nine. Ryan Amason started for UNF, allowing five hits in five scoreless innings.
The teams will conclude their two-game series on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Admission to the game is free. Game audio will be carried via the World Wide Web at www.unfospreys.com.
