DELAND, Fla. – It was junior Justin Preckajlo's tenth-inning, two-run blast that lifted the University of North Florida baseball team to an 11-9 win against Stetson in an Atlantic Sun Conference contest Friday night that featured 30 combined hits and 11 pitchers as the Ospreys evened the weekend series at one game each. UNF (19-24, 12-11 A-Sun) finished with at least one hit in every inning and used a big third inning to take its first lead of the series. Junior TJ Thompson took Stetson (22-25, 11-12) starter Robby Donovan deep over the right field fence for a three-run shot to push the Ospreys' lead to 4-2 after sophomore Sam Perry scored earlier in the frame. The Hatters plated one run in each of the first two innings on a called balk by UNF senior starter Phil Rorabaugh and a Kyle Maulbetsch single, respectively. Rorabaugh tossed four complete innings and faced two batters in the fifth inning, allowing a walk and a single, before being replaced by senior Antonio Franzese. With first base unoccupied, the Ospreys played the odds and issued an intentional walk to A-Sun RBI leader Jeremy Cruz, but the move backfired. Aaron Crittenden mashed a Franzese pitch past the fence in right field for his 11th homer of the year – a grand slam that gave the home team a 6-4 edge. Two innings later, UNF responded with a two-out rally to tie the contest at 6-6. The Hatters opened the top of the seventh inning with two straight outs, but Thompson and Preckajlo each walked to keep the inning alive. Junior Kevin Martin knocked an RBI single to score Thompson, and a throwing error from right field created Preckajlo's chance to cross the plate. Both teams notched one hit in the eighth inning, and UNF rang up three in the ninth. Junior Preston Hale got things started with a single to left field followed by a Thompson single through the left side. Preckajlo laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners. After Martin was intentionally walked, junior David Eldredge drove a ball deep enough to right field to score Hale on a sacrifice fly. Thompson scored when freshman TJ Gavlik singled up the middle. A wild pitch moved Martin to third and Gavlik to second, and Perry walked to fill the pads. Senior Brian Wilson smacked a ball to the shortstop, who attempted to throw out Perry at second, but the throw was late. Martin scored, and Gavlik rounded third in an attempt to give UNF a 10-6 lead. However, Stetson second baseman Mark Jones fired home for the third out of the frame. The bottom of the ninth opened with an error by Perry, putting Jones on first. Cruz pounded a one-out single to left field, and Spencer Jones took over for Franzese. When Hale misplayed Crittenden's single to right field, two runs crossed the plate and Crittenden advanced to second. Tyler Erickson pinch ran and scored to tie the game on a single to center field by Nick Rickles. Refusing to be put down, the Ospreys again bounced back in the top of the tenth inning. Hale stood on first via a fielder's choice and watched Preckajlo spank a pitch by Nick Bohne, Stetson's fifth pitcher of the night, which fell only a few feet past the left field boundary.
Jones (2-1) tossed two-thirds of an inning en route to earning the win. He allowed one unearned run and two hits. Senior Ty Pryor tossed the entire tenth inning, striking out one without allowing a hit to pick up his first save of the season. Every Osprey in the batting order collected a hit Friday night, led by Wilson and Thompson with three a piece. Thompson also scored three runs and drove in three. Preckajlo and Smith both had two hits while Hale scored two runs.
Crittenden went 3-for-5 with five RBIs and a run scored. Seven Stetson hurlers combined for the same number of strikeouts as Franzese (4) and seven walks. Bohne was tagged with the loss, moving his record to 3-2.
The series rubber match has a slated first pitch of 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
