JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Alex Lodise hit the game-winning opposite field three-run home run in the fifth inning and North Florida's bullpen spun 4.2 innings of one-run ball as the Ospreys (8-5) completed a four-game sweep of Fordham (0-10) with an 8-4 win Sunday, March 5.
UNF earned its first four-game sweep since the 2015 season when North Florida took all four games from Brown March 13-15, 2015. It was also UNF's first series sweep since the Ospreys blanked Jacksonville April 23-25, 2021.
2021 was also the last time UNF has won four games in a row. North Florida has taken all three weekend series thus far during 2023. Lodise's go-ahead bomb was his fifth this year, good for tied-for-fifth in UNF history among freshmen in a single season.
UNF 8, FORDHAM 4
Pitchers of Record
Win:
Ty Angevine (1-0)
Loss: Dominic Cunha (0-1)
Save:
Stephen Halstead (3)
Line Scores
FORDHAM | 4R, 9H, 0E, 11 LOB
UNF | 8R, 9R, E, 7 LOB
Behind the Line Score
- UNF scored first, pushing one across in the first. Aidan Sweatt singled, Austin Brinling walked and a double steal moved them up 90 feet. Lodise scored Sweatt with a sac fly down the left field line.
- A hit batter and walk resulted in two Fordham runs on a sac fly and bloop single in the third.
- No hits were needed in the third as four walks, featuring Cade Reich's RBI walk, plated Sweatt to tie it, 2-2.
- The leadoff walk loomed again in the fifth as Fordham pushed another across with a sac fly.
- It could have been much more for Fordham in the fifth, but Ty Angevine got a strikeout and fly out to strand them loaded.
- North Florida exploded for four runs in the fifth, getting UNF out to a 6-3 lead. After UNF was held without a hit since Sweatt opened the game with a single, Gabriel Esquivel evened the game with an RBI single to right.
- Lodise sent UNF in front, 6-3, scoring Esquivel and Jakob Runnels with a three-run opposite field home run to right.
- Fordham loaded the bags again in the sixth, but Angevine got out of it with a harmless unassisted groundout to Matthew Clements at third.
- A two-out RBI double for Fordham made it 6-4 in the seventh.
- An insurance run came across the plate in the seventh for the Ospreys. Runnels and Esquivel started things off with a single before a wild pitch pushed them over 90 feet. Reich scored Runnels with a sac fly.
- Runnels added more to the lead with an RBI single through the left side during a three-hit frame.
- Stephen Halstead earned his second save in as many days, coaxing a game-ending double play to Sweatt.
Statistical Leaders
FORDHAM
- Daniel Bucciero | 2-for-4, RBI
- Zach Selinger | 2-for-5, R
UNF
- Aidan Sweatt | 2-for-4, 2R
- Jakob Runnels | 2-for-4, 2R, RBI
- Gabriel Esquivel | 2-for-2, R, RBI, 2BB
- Alex Lodise | 1-for-2, 4RBI, R, BB
- Stephen Halstead | SV, 2.0 IP, 0H, 0ER, BB, K
Notes
- Eric Fouraker made his first-career start
- UNF has won each weekend series this season
- This is the lone four-game series on the season
- Lodise is already tied for fifth in UNF freshman single season history for home runs
- North Florida is 8-4 at home
- The Ospreys are 6-2 all-time against Fordham
- Halstead is tied for tenth all time in saves with nine
- UNF swept a four-game series for the first time since sweeping Brown March 13-15, 2015
- UNF swept a series for the first time since sweeping JU in a three-game series April 23-25, 2021
- Lodise leads the team with five home runs
- Angevine earned his first-career win
Up Next
UNF goes on the road for the second time this year at UCF Tuesday.