JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida baseball (21-28-1, 11-15-1) went back and forth with Florida Gulf Coast (27-24, 18-10) through the first half of its debut matchup, but ultimately fell in the later innings in a 6-2 loss on Thursday evening.

The Ospreys fell at first after a solo home run, followed with an RBI single in the third inning. UNF mimicked the Eagles' inning with a solo bomb from Cade Reich, as well as an RBI single from Tripp McKinlay to tie the game at 2-2.

UNF had a strong start from its left-handed ace Peter Holden in his final start at Harmon Stadium with four strikeouts over the first four innings. A pair of RBI hits in the fifth and sixth frames, including another solo shot from FGCU, put a damper in his regular season finale going down two runs after pitching 6.1 innings.

Jordan Wimpelberg and Zane Starling came in relief for UNF going the remaining 2.2 innings, but allowed an extra two runs to score in the eighth. The Ospreys had a chance to put up some runs in the final two innings, but were unsuccessful to start the weekend home series.

FGCU 6, UNF 2

Pitchers of Record
Win: Davian Garcia (5-2)
Loss: Peter Holden (4-4)
Save: Jake Bunz (1)

Line Scores
FGCU | 6 R, 8 H, 1 E, 6 LOB
UNF | 2 R, 4 H, 3 E, 4 LOB

Statistical Leaders
UNF
Cade Reich | 1-3, RBI, R, solo HR
Tripp McKinlay | 1-4, RBI
Finn Howell | 1-3, R
Peter Holden | 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 109 pitches

FGCU
Trevor Kole | 1-4, 2 RBI
Robert Moya | 1-1, RBI, 2 R, 3 BB, solo HR
Mac Moise | 1-5, RBI, R, solo HR
Davian Garcia | 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 99 pitches

UP NEXT

The Ospreys will host senior day before its second game against Florida Gulf Coast on Friday, May 17, with first pitch set for 6 p.m., at Harmon Stadium.