Northern Illinois Box Score
Mississippi State Box Score

STARKVILLE, Miss. - The University of North Florida baseball team had an exciting start to its day on Sunday before one pitch made the ending bittersweet.

UNF (2-2) took down Northern Illinois, 9-3, in its first game of the day and fell 9-7 to Mississippi State on a walk-off home run at the BankFirst Baseball Challenge.

Junior first baseman Ryan Puskar broke out in a big way, hitting two grand slams that both helped propel UNF to wins. He finished with nine RBIs and a double on the day.

With two outs and the bases full in the top of the fifth against Mississippi State, Puskar blasted a towering home run to right center field that gave UNF a 6-4 lead.

The Ospreys added an extra run in the top of the seven to make it 7-5 when Puskar drove in junior TJ Thompson on a double placed perfectly down the left field line. Thompson reached base earlier in the inning when he led off with a single through the right side.

Junior Tucker Pryor came in to relieve junior Greg Koehler in the sixth inning and did a solid job, recording four strikeouts and getting out of a pair of jams. But in the bottom of the ninth with two runners on, Bulldog pinch hitter Jet Butler hit a home run over the right center fence to end the game.

In game one against NIU, junior LHP John Atteo returned to the form that garnered him an Atlantic Sun Conference All-Freshman honor in 2007. He recorded the second complete game of his career, and more importantly, was painting the corners and pulling the string on his curve, causing hitters to swing off balance.

With the bases juiced in the top of the third, Puskar destroyed a Chuck Lukanen pitch over the left field wall into the famous Mississippi State tailgating section for a grand slam to put UNF up 5-0. It was UNF's first grand slam since March 22, 2008, when Andrew Hannon sent Harmon Stadium into an uproar against USC Upstate.

The Ospreys continued to put pressure on the Huskies and rattle them, which was highlighted in the top of the fourth when sophomore Sam Perry laid down a bunt to move Michael Smith to second base, who reached earlier on a walk. NIU wasn't able to get Perry in time at first, and everyone was safe.

In the next play, Lukanen committed a balk to put runners in scoring position for Robbie Collier, who knocked Smith in with a sacrifice fly to left field.

UNF added two more runs in the top of the sixth to extend its lead to 8-1. Wilson scored the first run when he crushed a triple to left that allowed Perry to score. The Ospreys rounded out the scoring in the top of the ninth when junior Kevin Martin drove in Wilson with a sacrifice fly.

With the win over the Huskies, the Ospreys improved their all-time record to 3-0 against NIU and 17-11 against the Mid-American Conference. It was also the first complete game thrown by a UNF pitcher since April 24, 2008, when Spencer Jones picked up the win at Bethune-Cookman. Junior Preston Hale extended his hitting streak to seven games, which dates back to last season.

The Ospreys will return to action at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in their home opener at Harmon Stadium against No. 29 Michigan. The game will be broadcast live on WBOB-AM 1320 in Jacksonville and will be shown on ASun.TV. Live stats will also be available on UNFOspreys.com.