Baseball Claims Series with Bruins

Sunday, May 6

Nashville, Tenn.

2 p.m.

University of North Florida

28-20, 9-12

Belmont

29-19, 13-8

North Florida

Belmont

Photo by: Todd Drexler

5/6/2012 5:01:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Boxscore

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The University of North Florida baseball team scored six runs in the final three innings and used another strong pitching performance to claim the final game of an Atlantic Sun Conference series with Belmont, 6-2, on Sunday afternoon at E.S. Rose Park in Nashville, Tenn.

Starting pitcher Tyler Moore earned his six victory of the season, working 8.0 strong innings. The sophomore scattered five hits on the day, allowing a pair of runs. Moore issued just a pair of free passes while striking out eight batters. Five of Moore's eight innings were 1-2-3 innings, thanks to some excellent defense by the Ospreys.

Evan Stermer and Chandler Jagodzinski combined to toss the final inning. Stermer induced a pair of groundouts while Jagodzinski closed out the game with a strikeout.

Offensively, North Florida tallied six runs on seven hits. Joe Wielbruda led all Ospreys with a pair of hits, including a triple. The junior scored two runs in the game, while driving in another. Ryan Roberson made his one hit count as the designated hitter pounded a two-run homer over the left field fence. Drew Weeks continued his solid play on the weekend with a hit and a pair of runs scored.

Neither team was able to muster much offense through the first six innings as pitching and defense dominated the early going.

North Florida broke up the shutout with a run in the top of seventh inning without the benefit of a hit. Wielbruda led off the inning with a walk. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Roberson. The Bruins intentionally walked Tyler Marincov to set up a potential double play. Andrew Karmeris drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. Alex Bacon hit a ball sharply to the shortstop who went to third for the force out. On the play, Wielbruda scored to give UNF a 1-0 lead at the stretch.

The Ospreys added three runs in the top of the eighth inning. Weeks led off the inning with a single through the right side of the infield. Corey Bass advanced the runner with a sacrifice bunt down the first base line. Weeks moved to third base on a ground out. With two outs, Wielbruda tripled down the left field line to score Weeks and push the UNF advantage to 2-0. With a runner on third and two outs, Roberson lifted a 2-0 pitch over the left field fence to put the Ospreys ahead by four runs. The homer was Roberson's fourth of the season and proved to be the game-winning hit.

UNF added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth innings. A. Karmeris started things for the Ospreys with a single to left field. He moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Bacon. With two outs, Weeks was intentionally walked to set up a force out. Bass singled to right center field to score A. Karmeris from third. After pitching change, T.J. Gavlik continued the inning with a RBI single to the shortstop and increase the lead to 6-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth.

In the final inning, Belmont's Zac Mitchell led off the inning with an inside the park home run off of the right field fence. Marincov looked to have a good chance at making a play but was shaken up for a moment crashing into the chain-linked fence. The following batter singled to right center field, prompting a pitching change by UNF – the first for the Ospreys on the weekend. Stermer caused the next two batters to ground out to third base. The runner moved 90 feet on each groundout and came around to score on a RBI single through the right side of the infield. With a runner on first and two outs, Jagodzinski caught the runner looking at strike three to end the game and preserve the 6-2 victory.

North Florida returns to action with a pair of midweek contests. The Ospreys travel to Gainesville, Fla. on Tuesday for a game with Florida before hosting USF on Wednesday night. Live stats, live audio and in-game Tweets (@UNFOspreys) will be available for the games. ASun.TV will be available for the game against the Bulls.