Wilfred Gonzalez slugged the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning and Florida Gulf Coast ended the University of North Florida’s baseball season 3-1 in the ASUN tournament on May 22 at DeLand’s Melching Field.<\/p>\n
Seeded first in the ASUN tournament for the first time ever, the Ospreys ended up two-and-done in the double-elimination competition.<\/p>\n
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The schools were tied 1-1 in the fifth inning when thunderstorms suspended play for nearly six hours. The game stayed deadlocked until the Eagles’ Javier Gorostola singled to lead off the inning and Gonzalez followed two batters later with a rocket to left against UNF’s John Costa (1-3). Gulf Coast managed only four hits for the game.<\/p>\n
UNF (31-24) threatened in the bottom of the inning when Jackson Schrafft and Mitchell Collins walked and Boone Hosey loaded the bases with a one-out single. But FGCU reliever Hyatt Richardson forced Gialdri Gomez and Jackson Toberman to fly out as the Ospreys came up empty, and Richardson extinguished UNF’s last hope when Sean Benjamin flied out to right with one aboard in the ninth.<\/p>\n
The first four and a half innings before the rain delay were a pitchers’ duel between UNF’s Trevor Nikolis (two hits in five innings) and FGCU’s Hunter Possehl (five hits allowed in four innings).<\/p>\n
The Eagles (36-21) took their first lead in the top of the sixth when Cayden Hessemyer scored on a throwing error by UNF’s Mathew Farner, but the Ospreys tied it on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Collins.<\/p>\n
For UNF, Collins, Carter White and Santiago Ordonez had two hits apiece. The<\/p>\n