Box Score (PDF)JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For the third time in the last five games, North Florida (11-8) won in its final at bat, this time a 7-6 victory over USF (10-8) at Harmon Stadium. The Ospreys rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth to shock the visiting Bulls.
Junior
Christian Diaz capped the improbable rally in the Ospreys' last turn at the plate with a two-out RBI single to center field. Diaz was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts going into the at bat and redeemed himself by lining a first pitch fast ball up the middle to score
Corbin Olmstead for the game-winning run. Olmstead, the hero on Sunday afternoon against UNCW, kick-started the four-run inning
with a two-RBI single up the middle that scored Kyle Brooks and Patrick Ervin and made the score 6-5. Still with one out,
Dakota Higdon's ground ball to second base took a difficult hop on USF second baseman Jonah Garrison who made his only play at first. The RBI ground out for Higdon enabled
Nick Karmeris to score and tied the game at six.
Olmstead scored twice in the contest and finished the day 2-for-5 with three RBIs. The clutch, ninth-inning hit was also a historic one for the senior designated hitter as he recorded hit number 200 for his career. He becomes the 12
th member of the North Florida 200-hit club. Olmstead leads the team with 26 RBIs this season and is 7-for-16 (.438) with 10 RBIs in his last four games. He is currently riding a 12-game hit streak.
Kameris crossed the plate twice in the contest and put the Ospreys on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning with his fourth home run of the season. He has two home runs in two games and finished the night 1-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Higdon doubled twice in the game and was 2-for-5 with the all-important RBI in the ninth inning.
The Bulls did all they could to align themselves for their fifth-straight win. USF jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the top of the first thanks to a three-run homer by Christ Chatfield. Offensively, the Bulls were kept quiet all the way until the eighth when Chatfield hit his second bomb of the night in the eighth inning. USF tacked on one more insurance run in the top of the ninth, taking advantage of an Osprey fielding error on a David Villar base hit.
USF starting pitcher Michael Clarkson threw 104 pitches and struck out four in six innings. He left the game in line for his first victory of the season.
For the Ospreys, redshirt junior
Matthew Naylor pitched the final 2.1 innings and struck out three to earn his second win of the season. Naylor faced 12 batters and allowed two runs (one earned) in his ninth appearance of the season. The win was the 10
th of his career, moving him into a tie for ninth place on the school's D-1 era (2006-present) wins list.
The Ospreys will be home this weekend for a three-game series with Quinnipiac beginning Friday night at 6:00 p.m.
