JU's Tyrell Brewer, Chandler Howard spark rally over Lipscomb in ASUN baseball tournament

Tyrell Brewer hit a game-tying two-run single and Chandler Howard followed with a sacrifice fly to center to highlight a five-run rally in the bottom of the eighth as Jacksonville University beat defending champion Lipscomb 6-5 on Thursday to advance to the Pool B final in the ASUN baseball tournament at Conrad Park in DeLand.

JU (27-30), which lost 10-7 earlier in the day to Central Arkansas, will play the Bears again at 7 p.m. on Friday in a single-elimination game to determine the lone Pool B representative in Saturday’s semifinals. The winner will face Kennesaw at 11 a.m., while Florida Gulf Coast faces host Stetson at 3 p.m.

The championship game is on Sunday at 1 p.m.

How did the Dolphins rally?

It was a very JU-like comeback.

Trailing 5-1, the Dolphins loaded the bases against Bison pitcher Collin Witzke on a walk to Cade Hentz, a pinch-hit single by Abdriel Delgado and a single by third baseman Jackson Westmoreland.

Will Gale grounded to third baseman David Coppedge, who threw the ball away in an attempt to get Hentz at the plate. Witzke then hit Jaden Bastian to force Delgado home to make it 5-3 and Brewer dropped a single into left field to drive in Westmoreland and Gale with the tying runs and send Bastian to third.

Howard, a sophomore from Lake City who had accounted for JU’s only run of the game before that with an RBI single in the seventh, then hit a line drive to center that Alex Vergara caught on the run. He was unable to make a play on Gale, who scored the go-ahead run.

Howard is 4 for 10 with six RBI in the tournament. He had a pair of two-run hits in Tuesday's 6-2 victory over Eastern Kentucky.

The Dolphins ran themselves out of the inning after that when Clayton Hodges struck out and Brewer was caught stealing third. Brewer, who is 3 for 8 with five runs and two RBI in the tournament, had stolen home on Tuesday in the victory over EKU.

However, sophomore right-hander Aidan Kelly, making only his ninth appearance of the season, pitched a hitless ninth inning for his first save of the season.

Dolphins faltered late against Central Arkansas

JU had to play twice in one day after losing to UCA 10-7. The Dolphins had a 7-4 lead through six innings but the Bears scored twice in the seventh, got an unearned run in the eighth, then broke a 7-7 tie in the top of the ninth with the help of two walks and a hit batter by JU reliever Isaac Williams (3-3) and two-out RBI hits by Mason King and Tanner Leonard.

Brewer and Gale scored unearned runs in the third for JU, Delgado highlighted a three-run fifth with an RBI double and Josh Steidl had a run-scoring single and Howard scored on a wild pitch in the sixth.

What happened in ASUN baseball Pool A play?

The top four seeds in the tournament played a round-robin format to eliminate one team.

That turned out to be regular-season champion Austin Peay, which entered the tournament as the national leader in home runs. However, Florida Gulf Coast beat the Governors 13-3 and Stetson won 5-3 to knock them out of the tournament.

Kennesaw won the pool by going 2-0 with a pair of one-run victories, beating Gulf Coast 4-3 and Stetson 6-5.

Where are the ASUN tournament games televised?

All ASUN games are streamed live on ESPN+.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Tyrell Brewer's two-run single sparks Dolphins' rally in ASUN baseball