Baseball Clipped in Seesaw Series Finale With Queens

Saturday, April 29

Jacksonville, Fla.

11:05 a.m.

University of North Florida

Queens (Charlotte)

Brinling hit .462 during the Queens series, reaching a team-high .381 for the year.

Photo by: Noah Thomas

4/29/2023 4:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - UNF baseball got a stellar quality start from Dominick Madonna, Alex Lodise launched a three-run home run and Cade Reich came up just short of a cycle, but Queens (11-31, 6-15 ASUN) scratched across two runs in both the eighth and ninth inning as the Ospreys were clipped in a heartbreaker, 7-6, Saturday, April 29 in the series finale.

The Ospreys (22-22, 8-13 ASUN) were one strike away from finishing off a 6-5 win, but Queens' Christian Maggio flared a two-RBI single to left to take the lead. UNF got two on in the ninth, but the Royals spun a game-ending double play to wrap things up.

UNF starter Dominick Madonna was on his game, going seven innings while allowing just three earned on seven hits. The righty fanned three in his third-straight outing of at least seven innings pitched in the no-decision.

Reich capped a huge series, going 8-for-13 with three doubles, two triples and two RBI. Lodise wasn't far behind, hitting .500 with eight RBI, six hits, five runs and three home runs while setting the UNF single season freshman RBI record.

Queens 7, UNF 6

Pitchers of Record
Win: Justin Offschanka (1-5)
Loss: Tony Roca (0-3)

Line Scores
Queens | 7R, 13H, 0E, 8 LOB
UNF | 6R, 9H, E, 10 LOB

Behind the Line Score

Reich tripled for the second time in as many days to open the second, but Queens starter Zach Kelly fanned the side to get out of it.
Austin Brinling and Aidan Sweatt laced one-out singles through the left side in the third, but Kelly buckled down to get a strikeout and popout.
Reich made it halfway to the cycle in the fourth, singling then stealing second. Kelly escaped again, getting a punchout, groundout and strikeout.
Queens loaded the bags with two outs and got a clutch two-out pinch hit two-RBI single from Dillon Lewis through the left side in the fifth. Sweatt prevented further damage by laying out to stop a liner and get Riley Cheek trying to score.
UNF got to Kelly in the fifth though. Brinling singled, Sweatt got hit by a pitch and Lodise pummeled a first-pitch fast ball off the scoreboard for the 3-2 lead.
Queens hit two doubles, one of which was a two-out line drive double down the line from Nick Brassington, to tie it up in the sixth.
UNF clogged the bases and capitalized in the sixth, scoring three to take a 6-3 lead. Blake Pound, Dallen Leach and Brinling walked before Sweatt was hit by a pitch. Lodise casted an RBI single to center and Brinling scored via a shallow sac fly from Cherokee Nichols.
Queens got two in the eighth to cut UNF's lead to 6-5. Zach Weston doubled and Tyler Peters singled him home with two outs. After a walk, Nick Melton plated Peters. But, Sweatt made a critical play, diving on a JD Coleman chopper in the hole before throwing him out to get out of the inning.
The Royals weren't done though, taking the lead in the ninth. With one out, Lewis doubled off the wall in right center. After a lineout, Weston walked and both runners moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch. On a 2-2 count, with Queens down to its last strike, Christian Maggio sliced a bloop single to left, scoring both runners to give Queens a 7-6 lead. It was a bang-bang play at the plate in an attempt to get Weston, the go-ahead runner, but the Royals runner was able to cross home.
UNF put two runners on in the ninth, but Queens rolled a game-ending double play.

Statistical Leaders
Queens

Dillon Lewis | 2-for-3, 2RBI, 2B
Zach Weston | 2-for-4, 3R, 2 2B
Tyler Peters | 3-for-5, R, RBI
Zach Kelly | ND, 5.0 IP, 7H, 3ER, 6K, 0BB

UNF

Cade Reich | 4-for-5, 2B, 3B
Austin Brinling | 2-for-4, BB
Alex Lodise | 2-for-4, 4RBI, HR
Dominick Madonna | 7.0 IP, ND, 7H, 3ER, 2BB, 4K

Notes

Reich finished just a home run shy of the cycle in consecutive days. He had four hits twice in this series
It was UNF's first loss in a game that the Ospreys were leading after eight innings
It was the first time Madonna didn't get a decision in a game since April 1
Madonna has gone at least six innings seven times this season
Lodise matched Abraham Sequera's 53 RBI tally last season. It's the most RBI for an Ospreys player since Corbin Olmstead in 2016

Up Next
UNF begins a season-long five game road stint at UCF Tuesday, May 2 at 6 p.m.