JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
Jacksonville (20-17, 5-6 A-Sun) used big innings and big individual
performances to sweep a Good Friday doubleheader from Campbell
(7-26, 2-9 A-Sun) by scores of 11-1 in a mercy-ruled first game and
13-3 in the nightcap at Alexander Brest Field.
Justin Lilly (0-3) took the
loss in the first game, pitching five-plus innings allowing six
earned runs on 10 hits. Justin Young (4-3) limited the Camels to
one run on three hits in picking up the win in the seven-inning
first game. Brandon Scott (0-2) took the loss in game two giving up
six earned runs in three innings of work, while Matt Gardner (4-2)
threw five innings of five-hit ball to pick up the victory for JU.
Tim Brown picked up his first save of the year by throwing four
innings of effective relief.
Jacksonville was in control from the
beginning of the first game, plating three first-inning runs. Three
straight hits to start the frame and an RBI single by Thomas LePage
staked JU to an early 3-0 lead.
The Dolphins matched the first
with another three-spot in the fourth inning. LePage scored on a
Logan James tapper to the catcher Todd Matthews to start the
scoring and was followed by a Chuck Opachich run scoring error and
a Pete Clifford RBI-single to expand the JU lead to 6-1.
JU put the Camels away with a
five-run sixth inning. The offensive display by the Dolphins forced
the Camels to go through three pitchers in the inning, as JU plated
their five runs on five hits, two walks and a hit
batsman.
Daniel Smith extended a streak
in game one in which he reached base in seven straight plate
appearances. The sophomore was five for his last five and had upped
his average nearly 60 points in the previous four games. Carlton
Floyd knocked in the only Camel tally of the game, scoring Zach
Johnson with a sacrifice fly in the third inning. Johnson, Smith
and Scott accounted for the three Camel hits in the opening
contest.
The top third of the Dolphin
lineup hurt the Camels as Kevin Ferreira, Opachich and Clifford
combined to go 8-12 with seven runs scored and five RBI. LePage was
a tough out in game one, adding a career-high four hits to the game
one Dolphin effort.
The Dolphins landed the first
and most important blow of game two in the third inning, as two
one-out walks, a single and a strikeout led to a bases loaded,
two-out showdown with JU's leading hitter in Clifford. Scott and
Clifford battled through a 10-pitch at-bat to a full count before
Clifford launched a grand slam off the scoreboard in right to give
JU all the runs it would need. Things snowballed from there as two
doubles and an RBI single plated two more runs to give JU a 6-0
lead after three frames.
The Camels added an unearned
run in the fourth, as Ryan Hamme scored on a Mike Causey single to
make a small chip in the Dolphin lead. After JU got the run back in
bottom half, Matthews got the Camels within one swing of the bat in
the fifth as the sophomore belted his third home run of the year, a
two-run shot, to cut the Dolphin lead to 7-3
That would be as close as the
Camels would get, as JU added six insurance runs in the bottom the
eighth as the first seven Dolphins reached off Campbell pitchers
Chris England and Hunter Ford. Matt Lopez's two-RBI single
highlighted the inning in which the Dolphins sent 10 men to the
plate.
Ferreira was the catalyst in
game two for the Dolphins as he went 3-4 with two RBIs, giving him
a 6-8, four-run day. Clifford's grand slam in the third proved to
be his only hit of the second game, but it still gave the senior
four hits and eight RBIs on the afternoon, as he set a career-high
RBI mark with five in the nightcap. LePage rapped out three more
hits in game two as he had a nearly perfect doubleheader, finishing
the day 7-8 with four RBIs.
Hamme led the Camel sticks in
game two with a 2-4 showing, as Matthews' home run and Causey's RBI
single accounted for the remainder of the Camel offense. Matthews,
Hamme and Scott all had two hits on the day for Campbell.
The Dolphins and Camels wrap
up their series Saturday afternoon back at Alexander Brest Field.
First pitch for game three is set for 1:00.