TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A first-inning grand slam and a four-out bottom of the ninth inning bookended Jacksonville University baseball's 5-4 win over Florida State on Tuesday night at Dick Howser Stadium.
The Dolphins (20-10) hit two homers and got strong pitching all evening, stranding 12 Seminoles on base, including the bases loaded to end the game."That is what you expect when you're on the road against a very good, well-coached team. You expect them to fight," said Head Coach Chris Hayes. "We didn't make it easy on ourselves, but the resolve and the resiliency that this group has shown is pretty special. It's an unwavering confidence that they can get the job done. We've seen it continue to develop all year."At the end, after Florida State had cut the deficit to two entering the ninth, it felt like things were breaking right for the Seminoles to win it. Chris Lotito was out to close it, but surrendered a leadoff single. He got the second batter to swing at three pitches out of the zone, but the strikeout pitch got away from Hogan McIntosh, and the runner raced to first to bring the winning run to the plate with no-one out.Lotito bore down again and got a strikeout to actually get the first out of the inning, but a single to center followed and scored a run and the throw to third allowed the winning run to move into scoring position as well. An intentional walk loaded the bases with one-out. Once again, Lotito executed and got a big strikeout, but he fell behind in the count 3-1 to the next batter. In danger of walking in the tying run, he induced a flyout to deep right to end it.The early lead came courtesy of one big swing by Chandler Howard, but the Dolphins set the table for him to do the most damage. Chase Malloy led off the game with a single to left, and was replaced at first two batters later by Kris Armstrong on a fielder's choice. With two outs, Hogan McIntosh lifted a fly ball down the left field line that fell in for a double, and Colin Wetterau drew a walk to load the bases. That brought up Howard, who worked the count full, and then drove a fastball over the right field wall to put the Dolphins up 4-0 before Florida State could come to the plate.Dakota Stone drew the start, and the freshman was a huge part of the Dolphins' success on the evening, working around baserunners all night and keeping the Seminoles from ever finding consistent success on offense. He logged three strikeouts in the first, working around a one-out double. After a one-out walk in the second scored on a double two batters later, he stranded two men on to keep JU up 4-1 through two. FSU hit a leadoff double in the fourth, but it took a two-out single to left to score the man, and it was 4-2 headed to the fifth.Armstrong came to the plate with two outs, and, batting righthanded, blasted the first pitch he saw over the centerfield wall for his 17th homer of the year to push the lead back to three, 5-2.Stone got stronger as the outing continued. He bookended the fifth with two strikeouts to strand a man at second and walked the leadoff batter to start the sixth, but never allowed the runner to advance into scoring position. He came back out for the seventh, and quickly got the first two outs before handing it over to the bullpen. He threw a career-long 6.2 innings, struck out five, and earned his first career road win."He was outstanding with a two-pitch mix. The fastball-slider was electric today against a really good lineup," said Hayes. "The guys did a great job of competing right out of the chute. [They] gave us the lead and Dakota does a great job of pitching with the lead."Leighton Alley took over, and needed only two pitches to get the final out of the inning. Florida State cut it to 5-3 off of Alley in the eighth, but with the tying run at the plate twice, he got a groundout and a strikeout to get out of the threat.Jacksonville returns home to face ASUN foe Eastern Kentucky for a three-game series starting Thursday night at 7 p.m.