University of Georgia Athletics
Jacksonville Eliminates Sacred Heart in Regional Play
June 03, 2006 | Baseball
June 3, 2006
Quotes | Box Score
Athens, Ga. -- Jacksonville University eliminated Sacred Heart 4-3 Saturday at Foley Field to remain alive in the NCAA Baseball Athens Regional.
Jacksonville (43-18) took a 2-0 lead in the fourth. The first run came via a solo home run to left from Justin Young, his fifth of the year. Next, Gordie Gronkowski reached on an error by Pioneer second baseman Jason Maiella and then advanced to third on a single to center from Daniel Murphy. Then, Mike McCallister drove in a run with a single to center. Sacred Heart got on the board with a run in seventh to make the score 2-1 as Josh Enos singled up the middle and came around to score on double to left from Maiella.
In the top of the eighth, the Dolphins went up 4-1. Gronkowski drew a walk to start the inning off. Then, Daniel Murphy (3-for-4) delivered a RBI double to left center and Matt Lopez singled in a run with a hit to left field. In the bottom of the frame, the Pioneers pulled back to within one at 4-3. Senior Dan Garcia led off with a pinch hit home run to right center, his first of the year. Then, Dave Kaloyanides singled to center, advanced to second on a groundout, and scored on a single to left from Bobby McKee.
The Dolphins got a strong pitching peformance from D.J. Ackley who allowed just one run on six hits before leaving with one out in the seventh. He improved to 7-4 as Matt Davis tossed the final 2.2 innings to preserve the win for his sixth save. Pioneer starter Chris Aldrich got the loss to fall to 6-7. He suurendered four runs on 10 hits in 7.1 innings. Chris Howard pitched 1.2 scoreless innings in relief of Howard to keep it a tight contest.
"Today was a game of survival," said JU head coach Terry Alexander. "We embarrassed ourselves yesterday. Certainly, everyone wanted to come out and play today. It looked like we pressed early on and tried to do too much. We needed a big performance from our pitcher to hold it until we got our feet back under us and get our bats going - that's exactly what we got from D.J. (Ackley) today."
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