Wild night at Sessions Stadium: UNF edges JU 9-8 in 11 innings to even series at 1-1

University of North Florida baseball coach Joe Mercadante summed up his team's bizarre 9-8, 11-inning victory over Jacksonville University on Saturday at John Sessions Stadium with a familiar refrain: It's ain't over 'til it's over.

"You see something new almost every day when you're out here," he said. "It was a wild one for sure. I'm glad our guys stuck together and kept playing together."

He won't get an argument from JU coach Chris Hayes.

"The ebb and flow ... the way things finished," he said. "It was not what you'd expect  but it's never going to be simple or easy in this series."

The bottom line on the four-hour, 18-minute game was that the Ospreys (18-18, 8-9 in the ASUN), snapped a six-game regular-season losing streak against the Dolphins (17-20, 11-6) and knocked JU out of first place in the ASUN. .

Jacksonville, which won the first game of the series 10-0 on Friday, is now a half-game behind Kennesaw (12-6) and tied with Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast for second. They can bounce back when they face the Ospreys in the third game of the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Walks, errors, hit batters plague both teams

The length of the game and the exhaustive adventures in the field and on the basepaths might make both teams dreading that early start time.

UNF and JU combined to use 11 pitchers, who accounted for 18 walks, six hit batters (although none with any apparent ill intent, nor did either team take any offense) and two wild pitches.

There were six errors but also four double plays and several other spectacular defensive plays on both sides. The two teams combined to strand 29 runners.

JU led 3-0 on Blake Edmonds' bases-loaded three-run double in the second inning. UNF then sent 13 batters to the plate in a seven-run fourth, with the help of four walks, two errors, and Cherokee Nichols' bad-bounce RBI double over third base.

JU tied the score at 7-7 with Clayton Brewer's RBI single in the fourth and an RBI hit by Will Gale and a throwing error by Matt Clements to bring in two runs during a three-run inning.

Tyler Gerteisen makes up for dropped fly ball

UNF left fielder Tyler Gerteisen, who dropped a fly ball hit by Abdriel Delgado in the eighth inning that allowed JU to take an 8-7 lead, atoned in the top of the 11th when he singled Moore home with the winning run. Moore led off the inning with a double off JU's fifth pitcher, Peyton Prescott (3-4).

The Ospreys sent the game to extra innings when McKinlay singled Connor Moore home with two out and down to UNF’s last strike in the top of the ninth against JU reliever Isaac Williams. Ospreys reliever Jordan Wimpleberg (2-3) then got the Dolphins out in order in the bottom of the ninth, with two strikeouts.

"After a play like that [his drop] I was devastated," Gerteisen said. "I thought the game was over. But all you can do is hold your head up and make the next play. I'm just glad I was able to pick myself up and help the team."

Mercadante said he wasn’t surprised at Gerteisen’s response to the drop.

“That’s the kind of guy he is,” Mercadante said. “He’s going to give you everything he’s got. He made a mistake but he had a chance to redeem himself and he picked himself up.”

Two rundowns, two outs for UNF

Then there was the bottom of the 11th, a fitting end to the crazy proceedings.

Hinrikus drew a leadoff walk against relief pitcher Zane Starling, who then went to a 2-0 count on Hodges.

Mercadante pulled Starling for Avery Love, who gave up a single to Hodges to put runners on first and third.

Nick Delisi rapped a sharp grounder to Moore at shortstop, who went for the force on Hinrikus at third. He threw the ball away but third baseman Finn Howell quickly recovered it and Hinrikus scampered back to third.

However, Hodges came barreling around second toward third. Hinrinkus broke for the plate and Hodges stood on third and watched Hinrikus get tagged in a rundown -- which was exactly what Hayes wanted him to do.

"In that situation, Clayton has got to hold the bag," Hayes said. "We were going to give up the out at the plate [Hinrikus] but we'd still have second and third with one out."

But after Hinrikus was tagged out, Hodges inexplicably broke back for second and was quickly dispatched in another rundown.

"Clayton just got a little over-aggressive," Hayes said. "It was aggressive baserunning and it bit us."

JU still had pinch-runner Jaden Bastian on second and Cade Hentz drew a walk. Gale grounded up the middle, Moore snared the ball with a diving stop and flipped it to McKinlay at second to end the game.

JU loses argument over obstruction at the plate

That wasn't the only controversial play in the field. Before the Dolphins broke the tie on Gerteisen's error in the bottom of the eighth, Tyrell Brewer was thrown out at the plate by Gertesien trying to score from second on a Hinrikus single. It appeared that Brewer knocked the ball out of catch Jabin Bates' glove but the umpire called Brewer out for not sliding.

Hayes tried to argue that Bates was not giving Brewer a path to the plate.

"I thought it was both," he said. "The catcher legitimately dropped the ball and the baserunner did not have a path to the plate. He called the runner out because he didn't slide. I didn't agree."

UNF has a chance to make a late run

"It was a very emotional victory," Mercadante said. "We certainly left some opportunities on the field but I talked to the guys and it was about picking each other up. If one of their teammates didn't get the job done the next guy stepped up and got it done for them and I'm just proud of the way they competed until the very end and stuck together."

Mercadante said the chance to win the series on Sunday could give the Ospreys some badly needed momentum for the final 12 games of the conference season.

"These rivalry series are always great no matter where you are in the season," he said. "You can change the trajectory of the season in a hurry if you can win an emotional, meaningful series like this."

Allison Benning, Shannon Glover lead UNF softball over JU

UNF guaranteed a victory in the season series against Jacksonville on Saturday when they scored all of their runs in the first inning and beat JU 4-0 at the Pruitt Softball Complex.

Senior left fielder Shannon Glover slammed a three-run homer to highlight the inning, her fifth of the season, and Benning (17-8) took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before it was broken up by Creekside graduate Allison Bratek on a one-out single.

Benning got a strikeout and Fletcher graduate Dacie Watterson lined out to first baseman Logan Jackson.

JU women's lacrosse clinches 10th ASUN title

Maddie Herman scored three goals and Ainsley Scruggs two as the Jacksonville University women's lacrosse team clinched their 10th ASUN regular-season title in 11 seasons on Saturday with a 10-7 victory over Queen's, in Charlotte, N.C.

JU (7-8, 5-0) has one regular-season game, on April 27 at Liberty (3-2). The Dolphins will be the No. 1 seed in the ASUN Tournament May 2-4 at JU's Rock Stadium.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: North Florida snaps six-game losing streak against JU with 9-8 victory