University of North Florida
Southern Connecticut State University
Ospreys pound SCSU 7-1
in World Series opener
5/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 30, 2005
Photo Gallery: UNF vs. Southern Connecticut State
UNF 2005 World Series Home Page
World Series Notebook: Dixon, Offense Dominate
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A two-hour and 45 minute rain delay prior to the start of the University of North Florida's first-round showdown with Southern Connecticut State at the NCAA Division II World Series did nothing to cool the Ospreys' hot bats on Sunday night. UNF blasted its way to a 7-1 win over the Owls at Montgomery's Riverwalk Stadium.
The Ospreys (46-15) pounded out eight hits en route to the win, including a trio of home runs by seniors Jon Skorupski and Sadry Café. Skorupski led the UNF offensive charge by collecting his 14th and 15th home runs of the season on back-to-back trips to the plate. Café added his 15th in the fifth inning.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game," UNF head coach Dusty Rhodes said. "We spent two days working on how we wanted to work their left-handed pitcher, and our guys did a good job of executing that. We were able to get him out of rhythm and capitalize on some of his mistakes."
The Ospreys' offensive outpouring helped junior right- hander Jacob Dixon earn the win and improve to 8-3 on the season.
The UNF ace allowed just two hits while tossing his fifth complete game of the season. Dixon walked three Owls and recorded five strike outs in 111 pitches.
"I have to admit I had some first-game jitters," Dixon said. "There's no question this is the biggest game I have played in, so I thought there would be some nerves early. I felt like if I could get through the first two innings I would be OK, and I was able to do that."
"Jacob struggled early on, but after about the second inning he settled into a rhythm and really did a nice job for us," Rhodes said.
Matt Hennessey (7-3) suffered the loss for Southern Connecticut (31-13).
After placing runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings, the Ospreys finally dented the scoreboard in the top of the third inning.
UNF second baseman Mike Fryrear started the UNF rally by drawing a leadoff walk. After a balk that moved Fryrear into scoring position, Brennan Grogan popped out to left field. On the ensuing at bat, Josh Howard slapped the ball sharply to SCSU shortstop Tyler Call, resulting in an error that scored Fryrear from second to give the Ospreys a 1-0 lead. The big blow of the inning came on the next at bat when Skorupski sent a Hennessey pitch screaming over the left-field wall to plate two runs and give UNF an early 3-0 lead.
The Owls cut the UNF lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth when Bob Pentino reached on a leadoff walk and later came around to score on a two-out single to center field by Steve Gatewood.
Skorupski put the Ospreys back on top by three runs in the top of the fifth when he knocked his second home run of the game, this time bouncing the ball off the train tracks that run past Riverwalk Stadium.
"(Hennessey) fooled me on a couple of pitches my first at bat and just beat me, but after that I really started to see the ball a lot better and was able to get the good part of the bat on the ball," Skorupski said.
Café followed Skorupski's home run with his own to give UNF a 5-1 lead and chase Hennessey from the game after surrendering five runs on seven hits, two walks and two balks in 4.3 innings of work.
Entering Sunday's game, Hennessey had not allowed a home run in 88.2 innings on the mound and had not registered a balk.
UNF tacked on one more run in the top of the seventh inning when Howard singled through the left side of the infield and moved into scoring position by swiping second base and taking third on throw into center field by the Owls' catcher.
Howard then scored on a wild pitch to give UNF a 6- 1 lead.
The Ospreys added a single run in the top of the eighth when senior Kevin Johnson drew a walk, stole second base and third base and scored on a throwing error by the Owls' catcher. Johnson's run put UNF on top 7-1.
Skorupski, Café and Howard each collected two hits to lead the UNF offense. Johnson and Jonathan Hodach each collected one hit for the Ospreys.
North Florida will face West Virginia State at 7:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday at Riverwalk Stadium. West Virginia State advanced by downing Grand Valley State 8-6 in the day game on Sunday.
