In a hard-fought weekend series at Harmon Stadium, the University of North Florida baseball team salvaged the finale against Ball State, securing a victory on Sunday after dropping the first two games. The win gave the Ospreys a 7-5 record on the season, ensuring that they remained over the .500 mark.
Game 1
The Ospreys started positively, with junior outfielder James Oman blasting a second inning solo home run, his first of the year.
The lead lasted until the fourth inning, when Cardinal first baseman Nick Husovsky tied the game with an RBI single. They scored another run in the fifth to take the lead, and added on three more runs, courtesy of a two-run triple from outfielder Gavin Ballius and a solo home run from infielder Dylan Grego. Right-handed pitcher Owen Quinn closed the 5-1 win for the Cardinals, pitching four scoreless innings in relief.
Game 2
Freshman right hander Bryson Treichel threw five scoreless innings and struck out five, but the Ospreys couldn’t close out the contest, losing 6-2 and dropping the series. UNF scored their two runs on an RBI single from Oman in the fourth inning, and senior third baseman Brady Browning’s first home run of the season.
The Cardinals scored their runs late, as they collected a run in the sixth inning, three runs in the seventh, one in the eight and another in the ninth. Ball State right hander Jacob Hartlaub pitched six innings in the winning effort, striking out five and giving up seven hits, a walk and a run.
Game 3
The Ospreys rode early momentum to take the final game of the series 6-5. UNF jumped out to an early four run lead, thanks in part to an RBI single from senior outfielder Drew Leinenbach and an RBI double from James Oman, who continued to hit well against Cardinal pitching.
Ball State answered back, tying the game at four in the top of the sixth inning on a three-run double by outfielder Houston King. In the bottom half of the frame, UNF relied once again on James Oman to regain the lead, as he hit a single and stole second base to place himself into scoring position. Two batters later he stole second base, and scored on a double down the left field line by freshman shortstop Seth Alford.
The Ospreys extended their lead in the seventh. After senior infielder Connor Moore hit a triple with one out, Cade Bush scored him on a sacrifice fly, tallying the Ospreys’ sixth run. Junior right hander Kaden Humphrey closed the game out, earning his second save of the season with three strikeouts over 1.1 innings pitched.
Post-Series Thoughts
Despite dropping the first two games of the series, Osprey head coach Joe Mercadante saw positives in his team’s performance and emphasized the importance of finishing strong.
“I don’t feel like we played bad baseball this weekend,” he said. “Today was big for us from a momentum standpoint. The guys got themselves off the mat.”
Mercadante also acknowledged the challenges his team faced against Ball State, pointing to in-game adjustments as a key difference in the series.
“I think we had a lot of good preparation, and we knew what we were going to run into, but they made middle of the game adjustments and we didn’t keep up,” he said. “We were on some of their guys for velocity, and they started throwing a lot of breaking balls.
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