University of North Florida
29-22, 14-9
Stetson
26-27, 13-11
UNF Falls to Stetson on Senior Day
5/16/2010 6:29:00 PM | Baseball
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida baseball team played its final home game of the 2010 season, but did not get the result the Ospreys hoped for, dropping a 10-3 decision to Stetson on Sunday afternoon at Dusty Rhodes Field at Harmon Stadium.
The game was the final home game for 11 seniors, as well as, Hall of Fame head coach Dusty Rhodes. The Ospreys honored seniors John Atteo, David Eldredge, Preston Hale, Michael Kelly, Greg Koehler, Kris Linster, Kevin Martin, Justin Preckajlo, Ryan Puskar, T.J. Thompson and Jon Turner.
Offensively, the Ospreys were unable to get things going, scoring just three runs on nine hits. Justin Preckajlo led UNF with three hits. He finished his final game in Jacksonville 3-for-4 with two runs scored, two RBI, a double and a home run.
Six other North Florida players recorded hits in the game with T.J. Gavlik scoring a run and hitting a double. Andrew Karmeris had a base hit and an RBI.
On the mound, Atteo took the hard luck loss. The senior tossed 4.2 innings, surrendering four runs on 11 hits. He walked a pair of batters and struck out one. Robbie Collier worked 2.1 innings. He allowed three runs on three hits and a walk. Casey Medlen, Kris Linster, Clayton Schulz and Greg Koehler combined for the final two innings.
The Ospreys got into a jam in the top of the first inning. Three straight singles loaded the bases for the Hatters with no outs. Atteo fanned the next batter for the first out of the inning. Atteo induced a lazy ground ball back to the pitchers mound that he threw to Kyle Dahl covering at home. Dahl completed the double play by throwing it down to Karmeris at first base.
UNF was the first team to score. Gavlik led off the inning with a double to right field. Preckajlo followed with a double to right center field to score Gavlik from second base. A deep fly ball moved Preckajlo to third base and an RBI ground out by Karmeris gave the Ospreys a 2-0 advantage.
Stetson knotted the score at 2-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning. With one out, the Hatters used a hit batter and a pair of singles to score their first run of the game. With runners on the corners, a sacrifice fly tied the game at 2-2.
The Hatters took the lead with a run in the top of the fourth inning. With runners on the corners, Stetson used a sacrifice fly to take a 3-2 lead. Stetson plated an insurance run in the top of the fifth inning. With two outs, the Hatters used a walk and a pair of singles to score the run and take a 4-2 advantage.
Stetson extended its lead to 8-2 with four runs in the top of the eighth inning. The Hatters batted around, sending 10 batters to the plate. The visitors used four hits to score the four runs.
The Ospreys added a run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Preckajlo hit a solo home run to straight away center field. The home run was his team-leading 14th of the season and cut the Hatters lead to 8-3. UNF would get no closer as Stetson added a pair of runs in the top of the ninth inning for the final 10-3 margin.
North Florida will be back in action on Tuesday, May 18, as the Ospreys travel to Gainesville, Fla. for a non-conference game against the Florida Gators. The game is slated for 6:30 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: BURNS, David (4-2)
L: Atteo, John (4-3)
Batting:
RBI: THEISEN, Spencer 3 ; EMORY, Sean 2 ; CRITTENDEN, Aaron 1 ; RICKLES, Nick 1 ; LASHLEY, Ryan 1 ; deGROM, Jacob 1
SH: deGROM, Jacob 1 ; CREWS, Robert 1
SF: THEISEN, Spencer 2 ; RICKLES, Nick 1
Base Running:
RUNS: SIMPSON, Jeff 1 ; EMORY, Sean 1 ; SCHLUTER, Kurt 1 ; CRITTENDEN, Aaron 1 ; RICKLES, Nick 1 ; LASHLEY, Ryan 2 ; deGROM, Jacob 1 ; CREWS, Robert 2
CS: SIMPSON, Jeff 1 ; THEISEN, Spencer 1
HBP: SIMPSON, Jeff 1 ; THEISEN, Spencer 1 ; EMORY, Sean 1 ; CRITTENDEN, Aaron 1
Batting:
2B: Gavlik, T.J. 1 ; Preckajlo, Justin 1
HR: Preckajlo, Justin 1
RBI: Preckajlo, Justin 2 ; Karmeris, Andrew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gavlik, T.J. 1 ; Preckajlo, Justin 2
