OSPREYS ARE RUMBLE CHAMPS!!!

Saturday, May 5

Jacksonville, Fla.

6:30 PM

University of North Florida

19-27, 9-11

Jacksonville

24-24, 9-11

North Florida

Jacksonville

5/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 5, 2007

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The University of North Florida baseball team took advantage of key mistakes by Jacksonville while overcoming a few wild obstacles to claim an 8-5 victory at John Sessions Stadium on Saturday evening and win the school's first ever SunTrust River City Rumble.

The win by the Ospreys (19-27, 9-11 Atlantic Sun Conference) put UNF up 11-7 in the year-long competition to clinch the Old Wooden Barrel. Freshman Preston Hale led the Ospreys at the plate with a career-high four hits with two RBIs, two doubles and one run scored. JU's four errors led to five UNF runs. Junior Travis Martin continued his solid series by going 3-for-4 with a home run.

Senior starting RHP Derek Bell (3-2) picked up the win for the Ospreys after tossing six innings and allowing three runs on four hits. Bell held JU in check for the first five innings, allowing just one hit and hurling a no-hitter through four.

After being held scoreless in the top of the first, the Ospreys scored in the next four innings and silenced the JU faithful. Hale put UNF up 2-0 in the top of the second on a bases-clearing two-run double that junior Chad Knight and senior Jon Dandridge to score.

Sophomore Brian Wilson tacked on another run in the top of the third when he slid in safely for a leadoff double and the errant throw by JU's Pete Clifford allowed him to score.

UNF's signature inning came in the top of the fourth when they scored four runs. Martin led off the inning with his first home run of the season. The flood gates opened when TJ Thompson's sacrifice bunt attempt was thrown away by JU third baseman Chuck Opachich, which allowed Hale to score from second base and James Belyea to move to third. Redshirt freshman Mycal Jones knocked in another run on an RBI groundout that allowed Belyea to score, and Dandridge capped off the monstrous inning with an RBI single.

Belyea picked an RBI in the top of the fifth when he reached on a fielder's choice and helped Knight score his second run of the game. It pushed UNF's lead to 8-0.

After a stellar first five innings, Bell ran into a bit of trouble. After Thompson turned a double play for the Ospreys, Clifford hit a three-run home run to right field that cut UNF's lead to 8-3. But Bell was able to get the Dolphins' Mike McCallister to ground out to Jones and end the inning.

Redshirt freshman Jonathan Turner threw two innings in relief of Bell and allowed two runs on four hits. Sophomore closer Tyler Stohr came in to shut the door on the Dolphins and did just that in his first batter faced, getting JU's Logan James to strike out looking on a nasty curve on the outside corner.

But Stohr was ejected after hitting JU's Ryan McCardle in the side on a pitch that seemingly unintentionally got away from Stohr. However, JU's starting pitcher Matt Gardner was ejected in the third inning for a pitch that hit Glanville in the side, and both teams were warned following the sequence.

Through all the mayhem, UNF took the bull by the horns and finished the job. Sophomore Antonio Franzese got his second consecutive save after getting the final two outs of the game.

UNF will try to go for the sweep of the Dolphins at 1 p.m. tomorrow. It would be the Ospreys' first-ever three-game winning streak over JU in the series' history. Live stats will be available on UNFOspreys.com, and the game will be broadcast live on WBOB-AM 1320 in Jacksonville.