The University of North Florida baseball team won the series against Presbyterian with a perfect record this past weekend, making for their third series win this season.

From start to finish, the Ospreys had a strong performance, making 39 runs across all three games. Tallahassee State College transfer Boone Hosey and Junior transfer Matthew Farner gained over a third of the runs collectively over the three games, gaining eight and six, respectively. Farner was also named ASUN Player of the Week on Monday.

Cruising for almost half of game one, UCF transfer Dakota Stone had 4.1 scoreless innings and struck out seven Blue Hose on Friday. 

Game One vs. Presbyterian

The Blue Hose came in strong, scoring in the first inning. In the bottom half, the Ospreys struggled, scoring no points. The Blue Hose continued to outperform the Ospreys, scoring three runs in the next two innings compared to the Ospreys’ two runs, including one home run from redshirt Junior Carter White

The Ospreys came back stronger in the fourth inning, with Stone making for a scoreless inning in the top of the fourth and Farner pumping out another home run, scoring them four runs. The Ospreys came into the fifth inning with more game-defining plays, with Stone earning another scoreless inning and two runs being scored by redshirt Freshman Sean Benjamin and Hosey.

The game continued into the eighth inning, where the Ospreys made a final push to widen the score gap, with Benjamin making a double and scoring on a wild pitch along with Hosey, Sophomore Seth Alford, and Farner scoring unearned runs, as well as redshirt Senior Tyler Gerteisen and Senior Santiago Ordonez scoring to for a six-run inning. 

Redshirt Senior John Costa played one last scoreless inning, and the game ended with UNF winning 15-6.

Game Two

The Ospreys kept up the momentum from the night before, with Senior pitcher Clay Hendry not allowing a single hit in the top of the first inning.

The Blue Hose kept making mistakes as they let Farner walk. Hosey came to game two hungry for runs, hitting a line drive triple to the center right field, allowing Farner and SJR State transfer Jackson Toberman to score. Benjamin then hit a single to left field, giving Hosey the chance to score as well.

The Blue Hose made an effort to catch up, scoring three runs and tying up the match, but the Ospreys fired back in the bottom of the inning with two runs of their own. First, Toberman hit a double, then Hosey made the most of his opportunity, hitting a home run.

The Ospreys and the Blue Hose went back and forth until the seventh inning. Farner singled to third base, followed by Toberman hitting a single to left field, and Farner advancing to second base. Farner pushed further, stealing third base, until Hosey hit a grounder to the shortstop. 

Hosey reached first base, allowing Toberman to advance to second, but Farner got out at home base off a shortstop throw to the catcher. However, Benjamin was quick to take his place on the field, singling to the middle and allowing Hosey and Toberman to advance to second and third base, respectively. Ordonez walked to first base, and Toberman scored.

Seeing the opportunity in front of him, Freshman catcher Beau Rurey hit a double down the right field line and gave all three runners on the field an opening to score three runs in one move. Finally, Gerteisen finished off the scoring streak with a home run, allowing him and Rurey to score, and ended the inning six points ahead.

The game ended 12-11, with Presbyterian tying the game back up and UNF just edging out another victory on the tenth inning.

Game Three

The Ospreys dominated in the final game, scoring six runs in the first inning and keeping the Blue Hose from scoring until the third inning. The game ended 12-2, with UNF closing out the series with a domineering sweep.

UNF Baseball will remain at home, facing off against Villanova on Wednesday. First pitch is at 6:05 p.m. on Dusty Rhodes field.

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