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University of North Florida Athletics

BaseballTeamKneeling
3
Winner Florida Gulf Coast FGCU 27-31
2
North Florida UNF 39-19
Winner
Florida Gulf Coast FGCU
27-31
3
Final
2
North Florida UNF
39-19
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Florida Gulf Coast FGCU 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 12 2
North Florida UNF 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 0

W: KOERNER, Sterling (3-6) L: Olmstead, Corbin (5-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Scott Fitzgerald | Athletic Communications

Late Homer Lifts FGCU Past @OspreyBSB

Box Score (PDF)
Video Highlights
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Fifth-seeded FGCU (27-31) broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the ninth inning on a solo home run by Corey Fehribach to earn a spot in the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship game. The 3-2 loss eliminated No. 2 North Florida who finishes the season with a 39-19 overall record.
 
With one-out in the top of the ninth, Fehribach drove the first pitch he saw off the scoreboard in right field, breaking a 2-2 stalemate. The home run was the second of the year for the FGCU first baseman who was 1-for-3 with two RBIs on the afternoon.
 
The Eagles move on to play Stetson in the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship and will need two wins against the Hatters to seal their first NCAA Tournament berth. It will also mark the first time the fifth and sixth seeds meet in an A-Sun Title game. The last five losses in the postseason for the Ospreys have all been by one-run.
 
The loss spoiled a career afternoon for senior reliever Daniel Moritz who came on to pitch in the fourth inning. The lefty pitched a career-high 4.1 innings and fanned a career-best, four batters. The veteran southpaw retired 11 in-a-row from the fifth through eighth innings. He did not walk a batter and scattered three hits before exiting with two outs in the eighth.
 
The Ospreys had the game's initial lead in the bottom of the third, thanks to a two-out, RBI single by senior Dakota Higdon that scored Chris Berry. The Ospreys scored 62 runs in the third inning this season, their most potent frame.
 
The Eagles responded in the top of the fourth with a pair of runs, one on an RBI single by Gage Morey and another on a sacrifice fly from Fehribach. The lead was short-lived as the Ospreys tied the game up in the bottom half on an RBI single by senior Nick Karmeris.
 
The North Florida defense put on a clinic, keeping the Ospreys in the ball game in the early going. FGCU had the lead-off runner on in four of the first five innings and none of them came around to score. Two stellar double plays turned by shortstop Kyle Brooks and Bubba Olivera in the first and third innings put a damper on two Eagle run-scoring chances. The Ospreys were the only team in this year's tournament to turn multiple double plays in a game.
 
Catcher Keith Skinner contributed to the Ospreys' lockdown defensive effort, cutting down a runner attempting to steal in the third inning. It was his 17th of the year, the second most in the Atlantic Sun this season. The senior ironman also made a terrific tag on a play at the plate in the second frame.
 
Seven of the nine Ospreys recorded a hit in the contest. The reached base streaks of Brooks (22 games), Karmeris (17 games) and Olmstead (14 games) were all extended. Olmstead recorded his fourth double of the tournament lacing a pitch off the right-field wall in the fourth inning. He later came around to score the game-tying run.
 
The Ospreys finish their 2016 campaign with an A-Sun high, 39 wins.
 
 
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