University of North Florida
Florida Southern
Cafe powers Ospreys past Mocs
5/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 11, 2005
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The University of North Florida's Sadry Cafe dashed No. 3 Florida Southern's hopes of a mid-week sweep on Wednesday afternoon when the UNF senior blasted a home run over Harmon Stadium's left field wall in the bottom of the 10th inning to propel the No. 2 Ospreys to a 5-3 win.
Café's 12th home run of the season avenged the 2-1 extra-inning loss that the Ospreys (41-12) suffered on Tuesday night.
UNF struck first on Wednesday afternoon, pushing three runs across in the bottom of the sixth inning. The two-out Osprey rally started when Café reached base on a single off Florida Southern's Ryan Cahalan. On the ensuing at bat, Marion Knowles plated the first two UNF runs with a home run over the left- center field fence to give UNF a 2-0 lead. Matt Oxendine followed Knowles' homer with a double down the right-field line and came around to score on a Judd Loveland double to give the Ospreys a 3-0 lead.
The Mocs (43-10) answered in the top half of the seventh by plating two runs of their own. Jeff Howell got things started for the Mocs with a single up the middle and then advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Joyce. Wes Lowry then matched Knowles' two-run home run with a two-run shot of his own to draw the Mocs to within a run at 3-2.
After holding the Ospreys scoreless in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Mocs tied the game at three runs each in the top of the eighth inning. Geoff Strickland started the rally with a double to right- center field. Strickland advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Mercurio and came around to score on a single through the right side of the infield by Howell.
Café led the charge for UNF at the plate with a 2-for- 5 performance, finishing the series 6-for-9 with two RBIs.
Josh Papelbon earned the win for the Ospreys, improving his record to 7-2 on the season. The sophomore right-hander didn't allow a hit in one inning of work.
Kyle DeYoung (6-1) suffered the loss for the Mocs after surrendering the home run to Café to end the game.
The Ospreys will close out the regular season this weekend with a two-game set against Tampa beginning on Friday. First pitch for the series opener is set for 7 p.m. at Harmon Stadium. The two squads will close out the series with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday.
Both games can be heard via the World Wide Web at www.unfospreys.com.
