February 6, 2000

Jacksonville, Fla. - Jacksonville University (3-1) avenged a Saturday loss to visiting South Florida (1-1) by defeating the Bulls 9-7 at Alexander Brest Field on Sunday afternoon.  Junior Marcus Bell (2-0) picked up the win for the Dolphins, his second in two relief appearances this season.  John Vigue (0-1) took the loss for USF.

After scoring just one run against a trio of Bull pitchers on Saturday, Jacksonville scored first on Sunday, plating two in the second on a solo home run by sophomore Jarvis Fraser (Macclenny, Fla.), his second of the season, and an RBI single by junior Phil Nover (Pace, Fla.).  JU sophomore starter Bryan Williams (Winter Park, Fla.) cruised into the fourth with a 2-0 lead, but the Bulls bats came alive as USF scored two runs on three hits and two sacrifice flies in the inning to tie the game.  Jacksonville responded by scoring five of their own in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-2 lead.  Nover and senior Grant Conyers (Bristol, Fla.) picked up two RBI apiece in the inning, while junior Jami Rodgers (Mcclenny, Fla.) drove in one.

After putting the first two batters of the inning on in the fifth, Williams appeared to be out of the jam after a ground out and a strike out, but USF's Mike Eylward followed with a long home run to left field to close the gap to two (7-5) and drive the Dolphin starter from the game.  Williams came on to induce a fly ball to right and JU was out of the inning.  The Bulls went scoreless in the sixth before Eylward (2) hit his second home run of the game in the seventh to get USF with in one (7-6).   Jacksonville's lead evaporated in the top of the eighth as USF tied the game on a Bill Nahorodny home run (1) to left.

With the game tied at 7-7 in the bottom half of the eighth, JU got walks from sophomore Troy Veleber (Jacksonville, Fla.) and senior John Vollstedt (Jacksonville, Fla.) sandwiched around a Nover single to load the bases with one out for sophomore Chad Oliva (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.).  Oliva responded by lining a single up the middle, plating Veleber and loading the bases for Rodgers.  The Dolphin first baseman notched his second RBI of the game with a walk before USF induced a double-play on a line drive by Conyers to end the Dolphin rally.

Leading 9-7 heading to the top of the ninth, Jacksonville kept the ball in the hands of Bell who struck out two, including the Bulls' final batter with a man on first.  For the game Bell pitched 4.1 innings allowing three hits and two runs while striking out five.  Williams pitched 4.2 innings for the Dolphins, surrendering nine hits and five runs while striking out three.

Leading the way offensively for JU was Nover with a 4-5 day at the plate.  Nover added three RBI, while Rodgers and Conyers each had two.  Conyers (2) was the only player other than Nover to record multiple hits for the Dolphins.  Eylward led USF at the plate with three hits in four at-bats, including two home runs, while driving in four.   Chris Cuccia added three hits, but was called out on strikes to end the game in the ninth.

Jacksonville will return to action on Wednesday, February 9th at 7:00 PM when they take on Florida in Gainesville.