{"id":205011,"date":"2026-03-25T05:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T05:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/205011\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T05:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T05:21:09","slug":"jacksonville-battles-through-elements-edges-bethune-cookman-4-3-in-return-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/205011\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville Battles Through Elements, Edges Bethune-Cookman 4-3 in Return Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>                    &#13;<br \/>\n                        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774416069_301_UNF_Primary-White (1) (1).png\" alt=\"University of North Florida\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                Next Game:<\/p>\n<p> University of North Florida<\/p>\n<p>3\/27\/2026 | 7:00 PM<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                    Mar. 27 (Fri) \/ 7:00 PM&#13;\n                <\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-opponent-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774416069_301_UNF_Primary-White (1) (1).png\" alt=\"University of North Florida\"\/><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                        \u00a0University of North Florida&#13;\n                    <\/p>\n<p>                             &#13;<\/p>\n<p>                    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 In a game defined as much by the weather as the opponent, Jacksonville outlasted Bethune-Cookman 4-3 in a rainy, wind-swept return to John Sessions Stadium on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>With conditions far from ideal, the Dolphins leaned on timely hitting, aggressive baserunning, and a staff-wide effort on the mound &#8212; using eight pitchers to secure the win. <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/dominic-pieto\/8605\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8605\" target=\"_blank\">Dominic Pieto<\/a>, JU&#8217;s best middle reliever thus far, earned the start on the mound.<\/p>\n<p>Jacksonville struck early in the first, capitalizing on defensive miscues. <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/sammy-mummau\/7048\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"7048\" target=\"_blank\">Sammy Mummau<\/a> reached and came around to score on a <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/sam-grunberg\/8593\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8593\" target=\"_blank\">Sam Grunberg<\/a> RBI single, before <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/conner-spelman\/6810\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6810\" target=\"_blank\">Conner Spelman<\/a> delivered with an RBI double to make it 2-0.<br \/>\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>After Bethune-Cookman scored three unearned runs in the top of the seventh to even the game at 3-3, Jacksonville answered with the decisive swing in the bottom half.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/roger-vergara\/8591\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8591\" target=\"_blank\">Roger Vergara<\/a> led off with a single down the left field line and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt from <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/sammy-mummau\/7048\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"7048\" target=\"_blank\">Sammy Mummau<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/cade-walter\/7051\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"7051\" target=\"_blank\">Cade Walter<\/a> then reached on a fielding error by the shortstop, allowing Vergara to score what proved to be the game-winning run and give Jacksonville a 4-3 lead.<\/p>\n<p>Walter was later thrown out attempting to take second, but the damage had been done as the Dolphins reclaimed the lead for good.<\/p>\n<p>From there, it was all about navigating the chaos on the mound.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/dominic-pieto\/8605\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8605\" target=\"_blank\">Dominic Pieto<\/a> got the start and set the tone with two scoreless innings, and Jacksonville&#8217;s bullpen took over from there. <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/ben-baker-livingston\/8594\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8594\" target=\"_blank\">Ben Baker-Livingston<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/gavin-dicks\/8592\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8592\" target=\"_blank\">Gavin Dicks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/kyle-powers\/7026\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"7026\" target=\"_blank\">Kyle Powers<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/grant-brooks\/7050\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"7050\" target=\"_blank\">Grant Brooks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/logan-hartman\/7024\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"7024\" target=\"_blank\">Logan Hartman<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/kyle-hopper\/8597\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8597\" target=\"_blank\">Kyle Hopper<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/austin-williamson\/8598\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8598\" target=\"_blank\">Austin Williamson<\/a> each played a role in piecing together the final seven innings.<\/p>\n<p>The pitchers got themselves out of some huge jams throughout the night, and each showed flashes of a stronger bullpen for the upcoming conference slate.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>Hopper (1-0) earned the win with a key stretch in relief, while Williamson picked up the save, shutting the door in the ninth to secure the victory. The win is the first of Hopper&#8217;s college career. For Williamson, the midweek save is a huge boost heading into the conference weekend after he surrendered a walk-off home run in Sunday&#8217;s rubber match versus Queens.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The closer, <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/austin-williamson\/8598\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8598\" target=\"_blank\">Austin Williamson<\/a>, after his second save of the year\u00a0said &#8220;I&#8217;ve embraced my role, and whenever my name is called, I&#8217;ll do my best and give us a good chance to win.&#8221;<br \/>\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>Jacksonville made the most of its opportunities, scoring four runs on just four hits while drawing four walks and taking advantage of multiple Bethune-Cookman errors.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Spelman led the way with two hits and an RBI, while Grunberg added a run driven in. Vergara and Mummau each scored a run atop the order as the Dolphins improved in gritty fashion. There were four errors comitted by both teams due to the elements and as many hits.<\/p>\n<p>Coach Hayes said &#8220;We did not play clean baseball today; but we played with a lot of guts.&#8221; It wasn&#8217;t always clean, but it was enough, as Jacksonville found a way late and leaned on its bullpen to close out a gritty 4-3 win.\n<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"488\" data-start=\"261\">Up Next<\/p>\n<p>\nJacksonville continues its homestand this weekend, in the first edition of the River City Rumble. Game one of three kicks off at 7:00 pm, and can be watched on ESPN+.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; Next Game: University of North Florida 3\/27\/2026 | 7:00 PM &#13; Mar. 27 (Fri) \/&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-205011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}