JU's Matt Gardner

Championship Coverage

DeLand, Fla. - The No. 4 seed Jacksonville Dolphins forced a final game by beating the No. 3 seed Belmont Bruins 10-4 at the 2007 Atlantic Sun Baseball Championship presented by Progress Energy. Pete Clifford homered in the first inning for the Dolphins and Matt Gardner went 8.2 innings for the win. Gardner allowed four runs and struck out one batter. Matt Dobbins recorded the final out of the game. Ryan McArdle went 4-5 with one RBI and two doubles for the Dolphins.

Jacksonville jumped on Belmont starter Charles Lee early to take a 2-0 lead. Chuch Opachich lead off the bottom of the first with a single up the middle. Two batters later, Atlantic Sun player of the year, Pete Clifford, hit his second home run of the tournament, hooking it just fair down the right field line. After allowing a double to Ryan McArdle, Lee escaped the jam getting Thomas LePage to ground out and Kevin Ferreira to pop out.

Belmont put a run on the board in the top of the fourth inning. Ben Petsch singled to center to lead off the inning. Derek Wiley followed with a double down the left field line to advance Petsh to third. Kane Simmons knocked in his seventh RBI of the tournament on a sacrifce fly to deep left scoring Petsch. Daniel Wagner popped up to left for the second out of the inning bringing up Brady Manifold. Manifold worked a full count before drawing the walk to put runners on the corners for Carlo Testa. Testa chopped an infield single to shortstop bringing in Wiley to tie the game 2-2. Matt Reynolds grounded out to third to end the inning.

The Dolphins grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the fifth. Pete Clifford led off with a walk and advanced to third on Ryan McArdle's second double of the day. Thomas LePage lined out to Packy Elkins at shortstop for the first out. Donnie Vickers hit a sacrifice fly to right field allowing Clifford to come home for the 3-2 lead. Kevin Ferreira grounded out to second to end the inning.

Bruin starting pitcher Charles Lee's day ended with one out recorded in the bottom of the seventh. Pete Clifford walked to lead off the inning and Ryan McArdle singled to center for his third hit of the day. Lee went 6.1 innings allowing 5 earned runs. He struck out 2 and walked 5. Jimmy Stanley relieved Lee and Thomas LePage recorded an infield single to load the bases. Stanley let a run come home witha wild pitch to Donnie Vickers. Vickers was then intentionally walked to load the bases with one out for Kevin Ferreira. Ferreira hit into a fielder's choice to bring McArdle home for a 5-2 JU lead. Matt Lopez then chopped an RBI single over Ben Petsch's head at first base to make it 6-2. Logan James ended the seventh inning with a line out to third.

Chuck Opachich singled for his third hit of the game to start the bottom of the eighth and was sacrficed to second by Mike McCallister. Pete Clifford was intentionally walked and Ryan McArdle collected his fourth hit of the game driving in Opachich. Thomas LePage hit a check-swing single to score Clifford giving JU an 8-2 lead. Donnie Vickers continued the onslaught on Jimmy Stanley singling home pinch-runner, John Tiner for a 9-2 lead. Kevin Ferreira singled to load the bases for Matt Lopez. Lopez flied out for the second out. Logan James hit an infield single to shortstop to bring in JU's tenth run of the game.