CARROLLTON, Ga. – North Florida baseball fell to West Georgia, 13-9, in a high-scoring back-and-forth series opener at Cole Field on Thursday night.
North Florida recorded a season-high 17 hits to plate its nine runs. Senior
Cade Bush finished 5-5 with a pair of RBIs.
Sophomore
Mitchell Collins singled through the left side and Bush followed with his first of five hits to place two Ospreys on base in the initial inning. Redshirt freshman
Carter White then sent a double that cleared the bases and secured North Florida a 2-0 lead in the frame.
West Georgia went ahead 3-2 with two runs in the first inning and one more in the second.
Freshman
Seth Alford kept the bats hot in the third inning with a leadoff double down the left field line. Alford then scored on an RBI single back up the middle from Bush to knot the score at three. North Florida retook the lead when senior
Drew Leinenbach sent a two-out double to left field to make it 4-3.
Another run by West Georgia in the bottom of the third knotted the score at four.
Senior
Connor Moore crushed a solo home run to put North Florida ahead, 5-4 in the fourth inning. The Ospreys turned in two more runs in the frame to secure a 7-4 lead in the fourth.
Collins provided North Florida with its largest lead of the game, 8-4, in the sixth inning with an RBI single.
West Georgia proceeded to post seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to command an 11-8 lead. Junior
Santiago Ordonez worked a bases-loaded walk in the seventh inning that trimmed the deficit to 11-9.
West Georgia fought off the late comeback with a pair of runs in the eighth inning that brought the score to its final margin.
PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Brendan Parks (1-0)
Loss:
Kai Etwaru (3-4)
LINE SCORES
UWG | 13 R, 13 H, 4 E, 4 LOB
UNF | 9 R, 17 H, 1 E, 10 LOB
STATISTICAL LEADERS
UNF
Cade Bush | 5-5, R, 2 RBI
Mitchell Collins | 3-5, 2 R, RBI
Carter White | 3-5, 2 R, 2 RBI
UWG
Jack Witmer | 3-5, 3 R
Carter Dierdorf | 2-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2B, HR
Cooper Prince | 3-5, 3 RBI
UP NEXT
North Florida will look to even up the series in game two on Friday, April 18. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. at Cole Field.
