Joseph Burns Homers for Second Straight Game, QU Baseball Falls 6-5 to North Florida

Sunday, March 20

Jacksonville, FL

1 PM

Quinnipiac University

6-10

North Florida

13-9

Quinnipiac

North Florida

Joseph Burns Homers for Second Straight Game, QU Baseball Falls 6-5 to North Florida

3/20/2016 3:32:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Florida - Joseph Burns (Shelton, Connecticut) hit his third home run of the season and second home run in as many days as the Quinnipiac baseball team fell to the North Florida Ospreys, 6-5, Sunday afternoon at Harmon Stadium.

Quinnipiac fell to 6-10 on the season while North Florida improved to 13-9. The game wrapped up Quinnipiac's trip to Florida in which the Bobcats went 2-6, including one win against Florida Gulf Coast and one in the series opener against North Florida.

Burns went 1 for 3 with his solo home run as well as a walk. Burns has scored 10 runs and drove in eight RBIs, both figures stand third on the team.

Ben Gibson (Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts) led the Bobcats with two hits, going 2 for 4 with a run scored. Matthew Payero (Corona, New York) played well for the Bobcats going 1 for 3 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored.

Starting pitcher Taylor Luciani (Berlin, Connecticut) made his third quality start of the season for the Bobcats, tossing six innings of two-run ball, allowing four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Lou Iannotti (North Haven, Connecticut) saw his 15-game hitting streak come to an end on Sunday afternoon but still managed to record a RBI in the loss.

The Bobcats took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning against the Ospreys. Gibson reached on an infield single to lead off the inning before John Bodenhamer (Maple Valley, Washington) doubled to right centerfield to put both him and Gibson in scoring position. Payero stepped up and doubled through the left side of the infield, scoring Gibson and Bodenhamer with no outs in the inning. Payero advanced to third on the throw home where he was stranded to end the inning.

North Florida got one run back in the bottom of the fourth inning on Corbin Olmstead's fifth home run of the season and third in the last four games.

Burns got the run back in the top of the sixth inning with his third home run of the season to reclaim the Bobcats two-run lead at 3-1.

Olmstead came around to score his second run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning to get within a run once again. Olmstead singled to right field to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After a Keith Skinner ground out moved Olmstead to third base, he came around to score on Nick Karmeris' infield single.

The Bobcats scored two more runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a three-run lead. Payero was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning before a Matthew Batten (Shelton, Connecticut) single to put runners on first and second. Brian Moskey (Higganum, Connecticut) sacrificed himself to put two runners in scoring position before Rob Pescitelli (West Islip, New York) walked to load the bases. Iannotti reached on an RBI fielder's choice that scored Payero and Batten came around to score on a throwing error by North Florida shortstop Kyle Brooks.

North Florida sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning to win the game, 6-5. Dakota Higdon led off with a single followed by an Olmstead walk and Skinner loaded the bases as he loaded reached on a fielder's choice. Karmeris and Brooks hit back-to-back RBI singles to centerfield to get within a run at 5-4 and keep the bases loaded for the Ospreys. Alex Merritt brought home Skinner on a fielder's choice and Patrick Ervin singled to left field to score Karmeris and take the 6-5 lead. North Florida's Chris Thibideau walked to load the bases before Alex Vargas (New York, New York) struck him out to leave the bases loaded.

The Quinnipiac baseball team will open up its home season on Wednesday when they Bobcats host the Yale Bulldogs in a non-conference matchup at 3 PM at the QU Baseball Field.