Florida Sports Wire

 JACKSONVILLE ( www.sportsdayjax.com ) -  Jacob Amaya, Jerar Encarnacion and Jesús Sánchez each hit a home run in the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp’s 5-2 victory over the Charlotte Knights Sunday evening from 121 Financial Ballpark in front of 8,023 fans.  The Jumbo Shrimp drew first blood in the opening frame. Sánchez (1) and Amaya (7) smacked back-to-back solo home runs to give Jacksonville (23-26) a 2-0 advantage.  Charlotte (25-26) collected their first run of the contest in the second when Carlos Perez (9) hit a solo home run against Jacksonville left-hander Devin Smeltzer (1-2) to make it 2-1.  In the fourth inning, Elvis Andrus (1) hit the fourth home run of the contest to knot the game at two apiece.  Amaya sliced a leadoff single in the fifth. Three batters later, Encarnacion (10) hit a two-run homer off Knights reliever John Parke (1-1) to put Jacksonville back in front 4-2.  Jacksonville tacked on their fifth and final run in the sixth. Jake Mangum hit a one-out double and was

Special to SportsDay JACKSONVILLE ( www.sportsdayjax.com )  The Sharks (4-2) kept their undefeated road record alive against the San Antonio Gunslingers (5-1) on Sunday afternoon. During their first matchup this season, San Antonio took down Jacksonville in overtime at the Tank. The Sharks got revenge, however, dominantly defeating the Gunslingers on their home field.  Jacksonville took control early and never looked back. Marc Orozco started the game with a deuce on the opening kick-off, immediately giving the Sharks a 2-0 lead. In his first game with Jacksonville, Orozco showed his power and precision. Jabari Gorman halted any possible momentum for the Gunslingers with an incredible interception in the endzone later that quarter, which was a massive part of the first half for the Sharks. Tamorrion Terry and Marquel Wade scored in the first, and Jacksonville led 17-6 after one.  The second quarter saw the first of a few touchdowns for both Sam Castronova and Kamrin Solomon. The defens

  CHERRY HILL, N.J. ( www.sportsdayjax.com ) - The Jacksonville Women's Rowing team completed their historic 2022-23 season at the NCAA Championships on Sunday. "The NCAA's is an amazing event because we witness the highest caliber of athletes in the country, and in some cases, in the world. Having Jacksonville University represented alongside those women is incredible. We had a historic performance, not only for JU but also for the MAAC Conference. It was the best finish ever at the Championship. I'm excited to see what Jacksonville and the MAAC will do moving forward." On the third day of impeccable conditions, today's weather may have taken the cake in terms of quality. Slight overcast and little to no wind led to honest racing conditions.  The Dolphins' Varsity Four put together the best performance by a boat at the NCAA Championship in program history. Throughout the weekend, they continued to climb and beat boats, and the outcome was no different in

  DURHAM, N.C.( www.sportsdayjax.com )  —  The Miami Hurricanes’ impressive ACC Baseball Championship run came to an end Sunday. Making their first title game appearance in 11 years, the fourth-seeded Hurricanes fell to the three-seeded Clemson Tigers, 11-5, in front of 4,702 fans at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.   The Tigers (43-17) extended their nation’s longest-active winning streak to 16 games, as Clemson claimed its 11 th  ACC Baseball Championship crown.   Miami (40-19) held a tight 5-3 lead at stretch time, but the Hurricanes ran out of gas playing for the fourth straight day.   Clemson scored eight runs in the seventh, highlighted by a pair of home runs.   Second baseman Riley Bertram delivered the game-winning shot, as the fifth-year transfer from Michigan tallied his first homer in a Tiger uniform.   Right-hander Jackson Lindley (3-3) earned the win in relief after tossing two scoreless innings.   Meanwhile, the Hurricanes used six different pitchers in the defeat, with fo

JACKSONVILLE (wwwsportsdayjax.com)– The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp launched six home runs – their most in a home game since June 4, 2010 - in their commanding 20-4 victory over the Charlotte Knights on Saturday at 121 Financial Ballpark in front of 8,041 fans. The 20 runs scored were the most at 121 Financial Ballpark for any Jacksonville club since at least 2005. In the top of the first inning, Zach Remillard and Elvis Andrus sliced back-to-back singles. Lenyn Sosa then laced a double to center field, driving in Remillard and Andrus to plate a pair of runs. Oscar Colas singled into left field, advancing Sosa to third.  With runners at the corners, Victor Reyes flew out and Jacksonville (22-26) ended up turning a triple play to end Charlotte’s (25-25) momentum in the first. Jacksonville put up a four-spot in the second inning against Knights starter Nate Fisher (4-5) to take the lead. Jerar Encarnacion (9) smashed a solo home run to right field, cutting the deficit to 2-1.  Austin Alle

Vanderbilt scored early and often, plating four runs in the first inning, two in the second, and three in the third. That left the Gators (44-14) to play catch-up the rest of the way, eventually falling 11-6 in the SEC Tournament semifinals.  The Commodores (40-18) advanced to Sunday's championship game to face Texas A&M, which beat Arkansas in Saturday's first semifinal. Florida was 4-0 against Vanderbilt before Saturday and owned a 28-7 advantage in runs.  However, Gators starter  Jac Caglianone  struggled with his control as Vanderbilt scored four runs on two hits in the first inning, aided by a walk, a wild pitch and a hit batter by Caglianone. Despite falling behind 10-1 after three innings, the Gators kept the pressure on Vanderbilt starter  JD Thompson  (4 2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER).  "Vanderbilt, obviously, played really well and jumped out to a comfortable lead. And we uncharacteristically made three errors today, made some other mistakes that kind of put us in a

CLEARWATER ( www.jaxsportsday.com )   – The University of South Florida (21-39) had its NCAA Regional dreams dashed and season come to an end on Saturday night as the top-seeded and No. 15-nationally ranked ECU Pirates (45-16) handed the Bulls their second loss of the day in the American Baseball Championship semifinals. ECU outlasted South Florida in a pitcher’s duel on Saturday morning, 3-1, and the Pirates out-slugged the Bulls in an elimination game later in the day, 14-7.   The eight-seed South Florida entered Saturday’s tournament semifinals in the winner’s bracket looking to repeat its Cinderella run of 2021 when the Bulls became the first six-seed to win the conference tournament. USF began its 2023 tournament run with a six-run rally in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s opening round to defeat ECU in extra innings, 12-11, and toppled rival UCF in run-rule fashion, 15-4 on Thursday, to set up Saturday’s rematch with ECU.   USF raked up 38 hits over the first two games of the tourna

ORLANDO (www.sportsdayjax.com) -   Greg Lovelady will not return as UCF baseball head coach after seven seasons in that role.  The Lovelady era in Orlando ends with one NCAA Championship appearance (in 2017 in Lovelady’s first season), a shared American Athletic Conference title (also in 2017), one appearance in the AAC Tournament title game (2021), 20 combined selections in the Major League Baseball Draft (2017-22) and a seven-year mark of 225-149 (.601).   The Knights finished with winning records in all seven of Lovelady’s seasons, beginning with a 40-22 mark in his debut campaign in 2017. UCF was 83-68 (.549) in regular-season AAC play over the seven years.   In his first campaign with the Knights in 2017, Lovelady earned AAC Coach of the Year honors. Recent years have been highlighted by early-season road series wins or sweeps at No. 1 Ole Miss (2021), No. 8 Auburn (2020) and Clemson in 2022. In the 2020 season shortened by Covid, the Knights began with a 15-3 record through the f