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University of North Florida Athletics

Brian Wilson
Senior Brian Wilson scored the winning run against JU on Friday.
4
Winner North Florida UNF 5-6
2
Jacksonville JU 4-5
Winner
North Florida UNF
5-6
4
Final
2
Jacksonville JU
4-5
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
North Florida UNF 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 4 7 0
Jacksonville JU 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 7 2

W: Pryor, Tucker (1-1) L: ANDREW (2-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Eric Scott, UNF Athletics

UNF strikes first in series

Ospreys open A-Sun season with win

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Led by steady pitching and solid hitting, the University of North Florida baseball team opened its conference season with a win and downed cross-town rival Jacksonville 4-2 on Friday night at Sessions Stadium.

Junior RHP Tucker Pryor (1-1) got the win for UNF (5-6, 1-0 Atlantic Sun Conference) after cruising in 3.1 innings of relief. He shutout the Dolphins and allowed just one hit. Senior RHP Phil Rorabaugh got the no-decision despite tossing 5.2 quality innings, giving up two runs on six hits while striking out five.

With the game knotted at two in the top of the seventh, the Ospreys set the table for the go-ahead run when senior Brian Wilson led off the inning with a double to left center and sophomore Sam Perry laid down a picture-perfect sacrifice bunt to move Wilson to third. Sophomore Michael Smith gave UNF the lead when he shot a single up the middle to bring Wilson in.

The Ospreys added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when they loaded the bases and JU shortstop Jimmy Howick couldn't handle a tricky grounder hit by junior TJ Thompson that just missed Perry running to third. The Howick error allowed Wilson to score his second run of the game and gave Thompson an RBI.

Pryor went to business in the ninth, getting two quick groundouts. JU's Chuck Opachich hit a deep fly ball down the left field line, but junior Preston Hale chased it down and put the nail in the coffin for the Dolphins.

JU (4-5, 0-1) got on the board first with a run in the bottom of the second when JU's Thomas Myers and Kyle Fleming hit consecutive doubles. UNF answered with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth to take a 2-1 lead.

Perry hit a routine fly ball to right field with two outs, but Myers wasn't able to hang on to it, which allowed both junior David Eldredge and sophomore Robbie Collier to cross the plate.

Both Hale and Perry finished with two hits. The Ospreys recorded their first error-free game since playing Northern Illinois on Feb. 20 in the first game of the season.

The win gave UNF another point in the SunTrust River City Rumble to cut JU's lead to 9-3. UNF has now won five of the last seven meetings with JU in baseball, including three of the last four at Sessions Stadium. It was the second year in a row the Ospreys opened their conference slate with a win.

UNF will return to battle at 1 p.m. on Saturday against JU at Sessions Stadium. The game will be aired live on WBOB 1320-AM in Jacksonville and on ASun.TV.

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