Tuesday, March 03, 2009

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Senior catcher Brad Simmons went 2-for-2 with a home run and three RBI while five Dolphin pitchers combined to strike out 12 batters to lead the JU baseball team to a 9-4 win over No. 6 Florida State, Tuesday evening in front of 2,097 fans at John Sessions Stadium.

JU (4-4), which has split the season series with FSU in each of the last two years, earned its largest margin of victory over the Seminoles since a 13-4 decision on Feb. 24, 2002 at John Sessions Stadium.

FSU (6-2) tallied only four hits in the contest and committed two errors, one of which helped fuel a five-run sixth inning for JU.

"This game proves that we are capable of beating anyone on any given day," said JU head coach Terry Alexander, who moved to 598 career wins with the victory. "This team has shown flashes of what it can do and now we have to play with that same passion every day. It was a great effort tonight by our pitching staff and Brad came up with the big hit to set the tone."

Junior Kyle Kriech (2-1) earned the win after tallying two strikeouts in three perfect innings of a predetermined start. Senior Billy Schlee, sophomore Matt Tomshaw, senior Joey Wedner and sophomore Matt Loosen combined to allow only four runs (three earned) on four hits while striking out 10 in six innings of relief.

Mike McGee (1-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits with five walks and seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings.

Along with Simmons, freshman center fielder Jonathan Murphy went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Senior left fielder Kyle Fleming also finished with multiple hits (2-for-4) with an RBI.

Jason Stidham led the Seminoles by batting 2-for-5 while Stuart Tapley hit a double and drove in two runs.