@OspreyBSB Silences Owl Bats in Game Three Victory

Sunday, April 3

Kennesaw, Ga.

1:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

17-12, 0

Kennesaw St.

11-18, 0

North Florida

Kennesaw State

4/3/2016 5:26:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Scott Fitzgerald, Athletic Communications

Box Score (PDF)
KENNESAW, Ga. – North Florida (17-12, 1-2 A-Sun) salvaged the three-game series with Kennesaw State (11-18, 2-1 A-Sun) this afternoon with a 9-1 win in the series finale. Starting pitcher Austin Drury struck out a career-high six batters and limited the Owls to just four hits for his second victory of the year.

For the second-straight outing, Drury pitched into the seventh inning. He kept Kennesaw State off the scoreboard for the first six innings and retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced. He scattered four hits allowed only one earned run for his second win of the season. The Owls, who combined for 19 hits over the first two games of the series, were limited to just four over the first eight innings.

The Osprey offense was powered by the top of the lineup consisting of Patrick Ervin, Corbin Olmstead and Keith Skinner, that combined for five hits, six runs and four RBIs. Skinner matched a career-high with four hits in four turns at the plate. He drove in three runs and moved his batting average to .419 on the year. Skinner finished the three-game series, 7-for-12.

Senior Corbin Olmstead and Patrick Ervin each scored twice in the contest. Olmstead drove in his 36^th run of the season with a single in the fifth inning. Ervin walked three times and was also hit by a pitch batting in the lead-off position for the second time this year.

The Ospreys broke a 0-0 tie with a five-run, fifth inning. It marked the ninth time this year North Florida has scored five or more runs in a single inning. The Ospreys sent nine batters to the plate and put together five-straight run scoring plays beginning with consecutive singles from Olmstead, Skinner and Alex Merritt.

Junior Christian Diaz also put forth his eighth multiple-hit game of the season and went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. The first baseman capped a three-run eighth inning when he smoked a 3-0 pitch up the middle, scoring two runs.

Reliever Matthew Naylor recorded the final two outs of the seventh inning, stranding a runner on second base. He pitched a scoreless eighth inning and did not allow a hit in 1.2 innings of work.

The Ospreys will be in action twice in the midweek beginning on Tuesday with a home game against Bethune-Cookman. On Wednesday, North Florida will travel to the State Capital for a matchup against Florida A&M.