JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – North Florida Baseball earned a victory in Game 1 of its River City Rumble series at Jacksonville, 4-2, at John Sessions Stadium on Friday.
With the win, North Florida remains in first place in the ASUN Conference Graphite Division. North Florida’s 6-1 start to conference play marks its best since its Division I inception in 2006.
Jacksonville opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning on a passed ball to take a 1-0 lead. North Florida responded in a big way with four runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Redshirt junior utility player Jackson Toberman drove in North Florida’s first run of the game with a sacrifice fly to center field in the top of the fifth frame to knot the score at one apiece.
Junior infielder Mitchell Collins crossed home on a passed ball later in the fifth inning to give North Florida a 2-1 advantage. Junior outfielder Gialdri Gomez capped off North Florida’s four-run fifth inning with a two-RBI single up the middle to put UNF ahead, 4-1.
Jacksonville answered with one run in the bottom of the seventh frame, though it wasn’t enough to overcome UNF’s solid outings out of its bullpen.
Senior right-handed pitcher Brandon Adams entered in relief amid the third frame and dealt 2.2 shutout innings without allowing a hit. Adams added four strikeouts and allowed just one walk.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Devin Diggs earned the save after 2.0 frames of scoreless work while notching two strikeouts.
NORTH FLORIDA 4, JACKSONVILLE 2
Pitchers of Record
Win: Brandon Adams (2-1)
Loss: Alex Walsh (4-4)
Save: Devin Diggs (2)
Line Scores
NORTH FLORIDA | 4 R, 8 H, 0 E
JACKSONVILLE | 2 R, 3 H, 0 E
Statistical Leaders
NORTH FLORIDA
Gialdri Gomez | 2-3, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Jackson Toberman | 1-3, 1 RBI
Santiago Ordonez | 2-3, 1 R, 1 BB
Brandon Adams | 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 K, 1 BB
JACKSONVILLE
Roger Vergara | 1-5, 1 RBI
UP NEXT
North Florida will remain at John Sessions Stadium for Game 2 at Jacksonville on Saturday, March 28 at 7 p.m. ET.