April 29, 2008

Box Score

Jacksonville, Fla. - Osvaldo Torres hit his ninth homerun and Eric Thomas was brilliant on the mound to help visiting Bethune-Cookman down Jacksonville, 3-1 on Tuesday night in a non-conference baseball match-up in Sessions Stadium on Alexander Brest Field in Jacksonville, Fla.

B-CU (29-17) left two men on in the first and second innings before finally producing runs in the third. Senior first baseman Osvaldo Torres--this week's Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week, registered his ninth homerun of the year with a monstrous shot over the left field wall to plate himself and sophomore Justin Hoyte for the 2-0 Wildcats advantage.

JU would not be without chances themselves, but they came few and far between with junior Eric Thomas keeping the Dolphins (23-21) off balance for almost his entire five and two-third frames on the hill tonight. Thomas had originally started the game on a strict pitch count by head coach Mervyl Melendez, but that was immediately vanquished when the Gainesville native started spinning a gem on the mound.

Thomas allowed one earned run through his six hits scattered and posted five strikeouts on the bump tonight for the `Cats.

The Dolphins dropped their third straight despite a strong effort from the pitching staff--scattering nine hits in the contest. Glenn Witkowski (2-1) got the loss after allowing two runs on seven hits in four innings of work. He struck out six and walked one.

B-CU made it 3-0 in favor of the Maroon and Gold in the top-half of the sixth with Patrick Jones' RBI single to left that brought in second baseman Mark Brooks from second who took off from first on the hit-and-run.

JU got their lone run of the game off Thomas in the bottom sixth with Kevin Ferreira's RBI ground-out to score Tony Bernazard from third. Bernazard posted his first triple of the year to kick-start the frame for the Dolphins.

B-CU's pitching staff would help out the rest of the way as Roman Lancara and Phil Enright combined to allow just one hit in the final 3.1 innings to preserve the victory, with Enright picking up his fourth save of the season.

The Maroon and Gold was led on the night by Hoyte, catcher Drew Clark and Patrick Jones who each collected two hits a piece. The Dolphins were led by second baseman Chuck Opachich with the only multiple-hit outing for JU as he had two hits in four trips

B-CU now sets to travel southwest tomorrow as they head to USF in Tampa, Fla. for the final of three games between the two teams this year. The teams have split outings so far with USF taking the last meeting in Daytona Beach exactly two weeks ago. As for JU, they travel to Georgia Southern tomorrow night in Statesboro, Ga.