April 11, 2012

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

By Dan Ryan
B-CUAthletics.com

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -The best way to recover from losing a close game? Win the next one. Bethune-Cookman did that Wednesday afternoon as it split a non-conference doubleheader with North Florida at Sunnyland Park.

Kelsey Rodney drove in three runs and Sabrina Ferguson two as the Wildcats (21-22) downed North Florida (24-19) 9-1 to salvage the split after the Ospreys won the opener 3-2 in nine innings, snapping the Wildcats' 13-game home winning streak as well as their current 6-game run.

"We played well enough to win the first game ... we just didn't win it," said B-CU coach Chris Cochran. "You have to remember that you have to keep playing the game for all seven innings or nine innings or until the game's final out. We did a good job of bouncing back."

B-CU capitalized on four wild pitches and a passed ball en route to the run-rule decision - the Wildcats have had at least one eight-run victory in their last four series or doubleheaders - in the second game.

Three runs - scored by Calesha Shelley, Aurelia Gamch and Ferguson -- on one hit in the first inning set the tone for B-CU in the second game.

Rodney hit a two-run single in the third to make it a 5-1 game while Ferguson's two-run single highlighted a four-run fourth.

Ferguson was 2-3 with three runs scored in the second game, while Shelley and Gamch each scored twice.

In the opener, Ferguson's two-run single in the fifth broke a scoreless tie, but UNF scored two unearned runs in the seventh and then scored on a bunt single in the ninth for the comeback victory.

B-CU has the weekend off and returns to action next Wednesday at UCF.