North Florida’s baseball team snapped their nine-game win streak with back-to-back losses to Rutgers.

The win streak started against the Northeastern Huskies on Feb. 25 in a double-header. After losing to the Huskies in the first game earlier that day, the Ospreys made a major comeback.

During the second game against the Huskies, North Florida had a breakout performance. After hitting a season-best of 20 hits, the Ospreys scored 17 runs and pushed past the Huskies for a final score of 17-6.

The next day North Florida faced the Huskies one last time. After a dominating performance the night before, the Ospreys kept up that same momentum to blow the Huskies out of the park. Freshman Tanner Murphy, junior Yahir Gurrola, and senior Chris Thibideau all hit home runs against the Huskies aiding UNF in its victory, with a final score of 11-1.

The Ospreys rested for two days before heading to Savannah, Ga. to take on the Savannah State Tigers. After making just two runs by the end of the third inning, UNF exploded in the fourth. North Florida collected seven runs in the fourth alone and three more runs by the time the seventh inning came along. The Ospreys clinched the win against the Tigers with the final score of 12-3.

The Ospreys came back home to host the University of Pennsylvania Quakers where they swept the Quakers in a three game battle on March 3-5.

In the first game against the Quakers on March 3, the Ospreys held the Quakers to zero points in the entire game. Sticking to their guns, UNF scored six runs, one in the first, three in the third and two in the fifth, making the final score 6-0.

On March 4, the Ospreys had a close game against Quakers, winning the game by one point. UNF scored early with one run in the second and two runs in the third. The Quakers picked up one run in both the seventh and eighth inning, but were unable to pick one more run which would have tied the game. This extended North Florida’s win streak to five games.

Playing their final game against the Quakers on March 5, the Ospreys closed out the weekend with a wining score of 7-3.

After a three-day break, the Ospreys faced their conference rivals the Jacksonville University Dolphins. Ready to continue their win streak, UNF came out swinging. Junior Yahir Gurrola extended his personal hit streak of 10 games after smacking his eighth double this year. North Florida finished strong and won the game with a final score of 7-5.

Unfortunately for the Ospreys, all great things must come to an end. North Florida hosted the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights in a four game battle on March 10-12. The Ospreys started the first two games strong. They brought in their eighth consecutive win on March 10 with a score of 15-1 and their ninth win on March 11 with the final score of 13-2.

It was their second game in the evening on March 11 where the Ospreys got there first loss since Feb. 25. North Florida lost by one run as Rutgers took home the 2-1 victory. In the last game against Rutgers on March 12, the Ospreys fell again to the Knights, 4-12.

After the losses, the Osprey’s record moves to 11-6 this season, yet they are still ranked number two in the conference.

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