MT. PLEASANT, S.C. --- Luke Manzo (Marietta, Ga.) paced the College of Charleston baseball team with a 3-for-4 effort and drove in a run, as North Florida built an early 7-0 lead en route to an 11-2 victory over the Cougars in a midweek matchup at Patriots Point on Tuesday evening.
North Florida (12-6) scored 11 runs on 16 hits – including two home runs – while limiting College of Charleston (8-9) to two tallies on seven base knocks. Manzo led the Cougars with three hits, as
Erven Roper (Easley, S.C.) reached base four times on two hits and two walks.
Kris Kuhn (Summerville, S.C.) got the start and went three innings, allowing three runs and striking out two.
Trent Rider (Warfordsburg, Pa.), Will Detwiller (Camden, S.C.),
Clay Hunt (Fort Mill, S.C.), and
Christian Shiver (Monroe, Ga.) combined for the next four frames, as
Griffin McLarty (Buckner, Ky.) and
Jakob Frishmuth (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) pitched the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
Christian Diaz and Chris Berry combined to drive in seven of the Ospreys' 11 runs, as seven North Florida players recorded a multi-hit game. Cooper Bradford tossed four shutout innings and struck out three to start the game. Andrew Delaney threw three scoreless frames to pick up the win, while Alex Smith and Matthew Naylor each tossed a perfect inning to close out the game.
The Ospreys opened the scoring with two runs in the third with back-to-back singles from Alex Merritt and Patrick Ervin. After adding a run in the fourth to push the lead to 3-0, Berry stretched the UNF advantage to 7-0 with a two-out grand slam to left center.
The Cougars answered with two runs in the home half, cutting the lead to 7-2 when Manzo doubled in
Danny Wondrack (Wall, N.J.) and Roper plated Manzo with an infield single. North Florida later countered with two runs in the seventh, before the Cougars stranded men on first and second in the home half. A Berry single in the eighth would stretch the margin to 10-2, and Ervin later drove in Rey Gonzalez with a ninth-inning single.
Charleston threatened once again in the ninth, putting runners on first and second with two outs before Naylor retired the final batter via the strikeout to end the game.
The Cougars return to the diamond on Friday in the first of a three-game set at Nebraska. First pitch on Friday is set for 4:05 pm Central Time at Hawks Field in Lincoln, Neb.
