Junior left fielder Blake Edmonds went 4 for 4 and drove in a decisive run in the top of the eighth inning with an RBI double as Jacksonville University beat the 12th-ranked Florida Gators 7-5 on April 21, the second time this season the Dolphins have defeated UF in Gainesville.
It's the first time JU (22-18) has defeated Florida (28-14) twice on the road in one season. The two programs have played 176 games since 1963. The Dolphins have also beaten the Gators twice in one season for the first time since 1995.
Jacksonville won its fifth game in a row and has gone 10-2 since being swept at home in an ASUN series by the University of North Florida March 27-29. The Dolphins beat the Gators in Gainesville two days later, 4-3, the first victory during their current hot streak and have since taken conference sets two games to one against Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson, and swept West Georgia to move into second place behind the Ospreys in the ASUN Graphite Division.
JU starter Ben Baker-Livingston (1-1) weathered a three-run first inning, highlighted by Kyle Jones' leadoff homer for the Gators, and got the victory in six innings, allowing only one earned run.
The Dolphins tied Florida 3-3 in the third when Edmonds and Sammy Mummau singled and Roger Vergara scored Edmonds with a sacrifice fly. Derek Bermudez then doubled in Mummau and scored on Sam Grunberg's single.
JU went ahead with two runs in the seventh on Mummau's RBI double and another sacrifice fly by Vergara, and made it 7-3 in the eighth on two UF errors, Edmonds' run-scoring double and a sacrifice fly by Logan Barrata.
UF got two runs in the bottom of the eighth, one on Blake Cyr's solo homer and another when Karson Bowen doubled and scored on two fly balls. Ayden Phillips relieved Brodie Scott and got the third out, and Payton Waters pitched a hitless ninth for his first save of the season.
JU (9-9 in the ASUN) will host Queens in a three-game conference series April 24-26.
Eight FSU pitchers combined on a five-hitter, with 12 strikeouts and one walk, and Eli Putnam drove in three runs as the Seminoles beat the Ospreys 4-1 at Harmon Stadium.
UNF (23-17) was nearly as effective on the mound as six pitchers limited the eighth-ranked 'Noles (29-11) to four hits, striking out 10 and not issuing a single walk. Putnam provided Florida State with all the runs it would need with an RBI ground out in the fifth, a sacrifice fly in the sixth and an RBI double in the eighth.
Mathew Farner drove in UNF's only run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
UNF (14-4 in the ASUN) will play at Florida Gulf Coast April 24-26.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Dolphins win second road game against Florida Gators this season