Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida baseball team had a tough time of keeping up with USC Upstate on Friday night in a 12-5 loss.
UNF (9-10, 3-7 Atlantic Sun Conference) scored three runs in the first three innings but was shut down from the fourth to the eighth inning. The Ospreys also committed two costly errors, which accounted for seven unearned runs.
Senior
Andy Warren led UNF with two RBIs, while sophomore T.J. Thompson had a season-high three hits. Senior
Chad Knight and sophomore
Preston Hale both went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
The Ospreys got on the board first in the bottom of the second when a hot shot by Warren skipped through the left side of the infield to bring redshirt freshman
Paul Morales and senior
Mike P. Smith in to score and give the team a 2-0 lead.
Junior starting RHP
Spencer Jones got into trouble in the top of the third when he gave up a leadoff single, followed by a double. But it looked as if he was going to get out of the jam after he got Upstate's Eric Guillen to ground back to him.
In the next at-bat, Jones struck the Spartans' Kyle Simpson. However, a costly fielding error by Knight prolonged the inning in the next play, and Upstate went on to score five runs.
UNF cut the Spartans' lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the third on a single by Knight that allowed Thompson to score, who led off the inning with a double.
The Ospreys didn't score again until the bottom of the ninth when sophomore
Michael Gropper scored on a throwing error by Upstate third baseman A.J. Clark. Knight scored UNF's final run when freshman
Robbie Collier was walked with the bases loaded.
Jones' record fell to 2-1 with the loss. UNF has now lost six of its last seven and four in a row in the A-Sun. It was Upstate's first win over the Ospreys in 22 tries.
The action will resume at 1 p.m. on Saturday with a doubleheader at Harmon Stadium. Both games will be aired live and on-demand on ASUN.TV. Live stats will be available on UNFOspreys.com.
