Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Dolphins showed their mettle on this day as junior Chris Kaminski hurled 2.1 innings for a save while the offense scored six unanswered runs in the final three innings as the JU baseball team earned a spit with USF with a 12-6 win, Wednesday afternoon at Red McEwen Field.

JU (7-6) led 6-2 through five innings but USF (3-10) scored four in the sixth to even things up (6-6). From there, the Dolphins would score two in the seventh and four in the ninth while Kaminski defused a bases loaded situation in the seventh.

“We needed to come back strong today and I’m proud of how we battle back when we had some adversity,” said JU head coach Terry Alexander. “There were some scary moments for us but we got through it as a team. Now we can get a day of rest before we open conference against a very tough Belmont squad.”

Senior Brian Gilroy (2-0) got the win after hurling 0.2 innings of scoreless relief while Kaminski notched his second save by allowing only one hit while striking out five in the final 2.2 innings.

Senior Glenn Witkowski, who was in line for the win, earned the no-decision despite allowing only two runs on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts in five innings.

Joe Cole (0-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs on four hits with two strikeouts in an inning of relief. Andrew Salgueiro also earned the no-decision after allowing five runs (two earned) on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts in five innings.

Junior shortstop Jamaal Hawkins led the Dolphins by going 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI, including a two-run double in the seventh to put JU up for good. Freshman center fielder Dan Gulbransen, junior catcher Alex Swenson and junior second baseman Glen Johnson each finished with multiple hits.