JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Columbia baseball team came from behind twice to pick up an 11-7 victory in 12 innings in game one of a doubleheader. The Lions dropped the nightcap, 6-4, but will look for a series win when they face the Ospreys Sunday, March 17 at 1 p.m. in the finale.
Liam McGill went a combined 7-for-10 with a homer, three doubles and five RBI in the two games.
GAME ONE
The Ospreys scored in each of the first three innings and held a 4-1 lead before a three-run fourth inning for the Lions knotted things up.
UNF notched a leadoff single and drew three consecutive walks to get on the board first. Entering into a bases loaded situation with no outs, Ian Burns came into the ballgame and recorded a strikeout followed by a 4-6-3 double play to keep it a 1-0 contest.
Blake Marabell led off the bottom of the second with a double and came around to score on a Tanner Clark single to double the advantage. McGill emptied the base paths by throwing out Clark, trying to steal, but leadoff man Wes Weeks worked a walk moved into scoring position on another stolen base. The next batter, Jay Prather, got ahead in the count and posted another knock to extend the margin to 3-0.
Columbia entered the scoring column in the top of the third when Joshua Solomon reached on an error and aggressively went from first to third on a sacrifice bunt. With the infield back, Julian Bury notched an RBI groundout to make it a two-run deficit. However, the Ospreys tacked on one more insurance run in the third.
Chris Berry snuck a single through the right side of the infield, stole second and came in when Alex Reynolds recorded a single.
The heart of the Lions' order jump-started the fourth-inning comeback when Joe Engel singled and McGill delivered his second homer of the season to pull Columbia within 4-3. Josh Nicoloff kept things going with a base-hit and stolen base, leading to Solomon poking one between first and second to plate the tying run.
McGill delivered again in the seventh to give Columbia its first lead of the game with a double to bring in Matt Cerfolio, who walked along with Joe Engel prior to McGill's at-bat.
Walks continued to lead to runs when UNF regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth. A leadoff base on balls and sacrifice gave Reynolds an opportunity with the tying run in scoring position. After getting the second out, Clark went deep down the rightfield line to give the Ospreys a 7-5 lead.
The Lions wasted no time getting to work in the ninth. Julian Bury doubled to start things off and Cerfolio worked his second walk of the contest. After a sac bunt to push both runners over, McGill was retired for the only time on the day, but it was a productive groundout that drew the Lions within one. Columbia then tied the game when pinch-runner Austin Mowrey scored on a wild pitch.
Thanks to stellar work out of the bullpen from Lucas Hall and Jimmy Smiley over the next three frames, the score remained tied until the Lions broke through in the 12th. Engel and McGill were in the middle of things again, each posting singles and moving over on a sacrifice bunt. Nicoloff followed with a base hit down the rightfield line to plate the go-ahead run and AJ DiFillipo yanked a triple to put Columbia in double-figures for the first time this season. Solomon put the finishing touches on the scoring with a sac fly and Smiley retired the side in the bottom half of the inning without incident.
Smiley picked up the win (1-0) after throwing two shutout innings. Hall retired all six batters he faced and fanned three. Nicoloff went 3-for-6 with two runs scored.
Clark led the Ospreys with three hits and three RBI. Ethan Michaelis took the loss to drop to 3-2.
GAME TWO
McGill picked up where he left off in game one, knocking in a run in the top of the first with a double to left to bring in Cerfolio, who singled earlier in the frame.
North Florida capitalized on a pair of walks to set up a four-run bottom of the third. With runners on the corners, Prather tied the game with a single up the middle. One more hit loaded the bases for Chris Matthias, who launched a fly ball deep enough to score the runner from third. Tanner May came up with the biggest blow, a two-run double down the line in left to make it 4-1.
The Lions answered with a pair in the third when Nick Tanner reached on a walk and DiFillipo doubled to put a pair in scoring position. Ben Porter tucked another extra-base hit down the leftfield line to plate both runs cut the deficit to one run.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Ospreys restored a three-run lead, loading the bases on a couple of walks and single with no outs. Dane Miller got the call from the bullpen and got out of the jam with minimal damage, allowing just two runners to score on sacrifice flies, but Columbia trailed 6-3, but did not go quietly.
The Lions put runners on first and second when McGill registered his second hit of the night and walked. McGill went to third on a fly out to right and scampered home on a wild pitch. With two outs, DiFillipo walked to bring Ben Porter to the plate representing the go-ahead run. Porter pulled a deep fly ball down the leftfield line that looked like it was heading over the fence, but was tracked down at the wall by Marabell to keep UNF in front.
Columbia also brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth after a two-out single from Engel to bring up McGill. The junior continued to make strong contact, however, his liner to center was caught on the fly to end the ballgame.
Ben Wereski fell to 0-2. He was charged for six runs over five innings with four strikeouts. Miller allowed just two hits in his three innings of work.
Logan Clayton earned his first win of the season for UNF, lasting 5.0 innings and giving up three runs on seven hits with two strikeouts. Eddie Miller was credited with the save after 1.1 innings and a pair of punch outs.
