@OspreyBSB Fends Off Citadel for Fourth-Straight Win

Wednesday, April 22

Charleston, S.C.

6:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

32-13

The Citadel

18-21

North Florida

The Citadel

4/22/2015 10:07:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)
CHARLESTON, S.C. – North Florida (32-13) held off a late charging Citadel squad for a 9-8 road win this evening at Joseph P. Riley Field. The Ospreys, winners of 13 of their last 15 games, sweep the midweek series and improve to 6-2 all-time against the Bulldogs.

The Citadel (19-21) scored five runs in their final two turns at the plate but had a comeback fall short in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Ospreys, no strangers to tight games this season participated in their 16^th one-run game of 2015. In those games the Ospreys improve to 8-8.

Two-way player Corbin Olmstead worked around two Osprey errors in the bottom of the ninth inning to earn his seventh save of the season. He also contributed late in the game on offense when he belted a solo home run in the top of the eighth to give the Ospreys a two run cushion. Olmstead was 3-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs.

The deciding run for the Ospreys came in the top of the ninth when Ryan Roberson successfully executed a safety squeeze play that scored Donnie Dewees from third. Earlier in the inning, Dewees hustled out an infield hit, advanced on a throwing error then stole third base. The RBI was Roberson's 46^th on the season which is the third most in the Atlantic Sun.

Dewees extended his hit streak earlier in the contest to 21 games on a two-RBI double down the right field line. He finished the day 2-for-5 with two runs scored and 55^th and 56^th RBIs of the season. Already the nation's leading run scorer, Dewees broke the program's D-1 era record for runs scored in a season with 64. He broke former teammate Tyler Marincov's record set in 2013.

To capture the initial lead of the contest, the Ospreys used a six-run rally in the bottom of the third. It marked the third-straight game and the ninth time this season that North Florida has scored six or more runs in a single inning. The rally came immediately after the Bulldogs built a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.

After Dewees made the score 3-2 as the third batter of the inning, Trent Higginbothem tied the game up with an RBI single to left center. With two outs, Olmstead delivered a clutch, two out base hit that scored Higginbothem and made the score 4-3. The Ospreys tacked on two unearned runs on fielding error by the third baseman to take a 6-3 lead.

Sophomore Matthew Naylor earned the victory in his longest outing of the year. He allowed only one hit in his first 14 batters he faced before the Bulldogs put up three runs in the bottom of the seventh. The win is his sixth of the season which is second most in the Atlantic Sun.

Today marked the last game in the month of April for the Ospreys as they will begin an eight-day layoff before a May 1 Atlantic Sun series opener against Stetson. North Florida finished the month of April with a 12-2 record.