DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A late Bethune-Cookman rally fell short Tuesday evening as Wildcats Baseball dropped a midweek contest at home to North Florida by a score of 5-3 inside historic Jackie Robinson Ballpark.
 
After two scoreless frames, North Florida (12-9) erupted for four runs in the third inning.
 
Ospreys right fielder Drew Leinenbach was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and later scored on Mitchell Collins' single past the glove of Jeter Polledo at short. Connor Moore followed with an RBI single of his own, driving in Nick Monile. First baseman Cade Bush then lifted a sacrifice fly to right field, bringing Collins home, and Jabin Bates capped the outburst with an RBI double to make it 4-0.
 
The Bethune-Cookman (10-11) pitching staff held UNF scoreless over the next four innings, but the Ospreys added an unearned run in the eighth when James Oman, who entered as a pinch runner for Santiago Ordonez, scored on a fielding error by Polledo.
 
The Wildcats mounted a comeback in the bottom of the eighth inning.
 
Left fielder Michael Rodriguez led off with a single and scored on Armani Newton's ground-rule double over the wall in right center. Polledo drove in Andrey Martinez with an RBI groundout, and Darryl Lee's sacrifice fly plated Newton to cut the deficit to 5-3.
 
The Maroon and Gold threatened again in the ninth, loading the bases with two outs against reliever Cone, but Polledo fouled out to first base to end the game.
 
Martinez led the B-CU offense, going 4-for-5 with a double and a run scored. Jesus Vanegas added two doubles from his second base position, while Michael Rodriguez and Irvin Escobar each contributed two hits.
 
For North Florida, Brady Browning and Nick Monile collected two hits apiece, while Bates, Collins, Moore, and Bush each drove in a run, respectively.
 
With both teams employing a number of pitchers throughout the contest, UNF reliever Jackson Bellhorn (2-0) earned the win on the bump for the visitors with 1.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, while Josh Cone recorded the final out to pick up his first save of the season. B-CU starter Brandon Vazquez (0-2) took the loss for the Wildcats after allowing three runs in two-plus innings of work of his own.
 
The game featured numerous hit batters, with a combined seven players being struck by pitches throughout the contest. Both teams also combined to steal seven bases, with Bethune-Cookman's Sergio Rivera swiping two bags alone.
 
UNF used seven pitchers to navigate through the Wildcats' lineup, with no hurler working more than 2.1 innings on the bump throughout the evening. For the Cats, it was a similar story as they utilized a committee approach, with Head Coach Jonathan Hernandez binging eight pitchers out of the bullpen throughout the evening.
 
The Cats travel to Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) opponent Jackson State this upcoming weekend for a three-game league set in Jackson, Mississippi. The series begins Friday, March 21, at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT).
 
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