After loss to North Alabama, UNF baseball on ropes in ASUN tournament

Fourth-seeded North Alabama piled up 13 hits and squashed a late rally, defeating North Florida 11-4 on May 21 in the third round of the ASUN college baseball tournament and leaving the Ospreys one loss from the exit of the double-elimination competition. The Lions (30-26), who had eliminated Jacksonville University in the second round the previous day, jumped ahead quickly with one run in the first inning, one in the fourth and four in the fifth in an uncharacteristic rocky outing for Ospreys ace Dakota Stone (7-3). Stone, a former Sandalwood High School standout, allowed eight hits, six runs (five earned) and three walks in 4 2/3 innings at Melching Field in DeLand.

Right fielder Wes Walker inflicted much of the damage for North Alabama, going 3 for 5 with a home run and three RBI to punish a sloppy day for the top-seeded Ospreys (31-23). UNF committed two errors and issued six walks. Tripp Patterson (6-4) got the win for the Lions, stifling the Ospreys for 6 2/3 innings with only one run and five hits allowed.

UNF closed the gap to 7-4 with a three-run bottom of the eighth, but Kelly Crumpton entered to extinguish the rally and strand Osprey runners on second and third. North Alabama then pulled away with four more in the top of the ninth, including a two-run double from Justin Santoyo. Both teams had to wait out a mid-game rain delay that halted play for around four hours.

Center fielder Carter White tripled and homered for UNF, which now must win two games in the losers' bracket on Friday to keep its season alive. This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: UNF-North Alabama college baseball, ASUN tournament score