Jacksonville, Fla. – (February 22, 2019) – The baseball series opener between the Fordham Rams and North Florida Ospreys had a little bit of everything with solid pitching on both sides, as well as some clutch hits late in the game to force extra innings. However, it was the Ospreys that came away with the win on a bases loaded walk in the 12
th inning, giving them a 4-3 victory over the Rams at Harmon Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.
With the loss, Fordham fell to 0-4 on the season, while UNF improved to 4-1.
It was your standard Friday night pitcher's duel between Fordham's
Matt Mikulski and UNF's Brad Deppermann to start the game. Each pitcher opened the game with five scoreless innings before both teams broke through in the sixth inning.
First, Fordham took a 1-0 in the top of the sixth inning, as the Rams loaded the bases with one out.
Jake MacKenzie started the inning with a one-out single and then stole second and third.
Justin Bardwell was then hit by a pitch with
Billy Godrick drawing a walk to load the bases.
Matt Tarabek then lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score MacKenzie.
The Ospreys responded with three runs in the bottom half of the frame, getting RBI-singles from Tanner Murphy, David Maberry and Tanner May, to take a 3-1 lead.
Cory Wall
The score remained at 3-1 until the ninth when Fordham put together a rally to tie the game at three.
Jason Coules led off with a single, which was quickly followed by a two-run home run to left by
Nick Labella to tie the game at three. It was his first of the season.
The game would go all the way to the 12
th inning, when the Ospreys were walked four times to force in the game-winning run.
For Fordham,
Brian Weissert (0-1) took the loss, issuing the first three walks in the 12
th inning, after striking out the final batter of the 11
th inning. Mikulski went the first 5.1 innings, allowing three runs on six hits with four strikeouts.
John Stankiewicz and
Cory Wall each threw 1.2 innings of scoreless relief with
Gabriel Karslo and
Kyle Martin adding one scoreless inning each.
At the plate, Labella was 2-for-5 with a double, a home run, and two RBI, while
Alvin Melendez and
Jake MacKenzie each had a hit and two stolen bases.
The same two teams match up for a doubleheader at 1:00 PM on Saturday with the second game being a seven-inning game.
