North Florida Baseball was defeated by Charleston Southern 12-4 in its first midweek game of the season at Harmon Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. The game took place on Tuesday night.
Mathew Farner, a junior infielder for North Florida, hit his third home run over the last two games. Farner finished with one hit in two at-bats, scored twice, drove in a run, and walked once. Boone Hosey, a redshirt junior utility player, contributed with one hit in three at-bats along with an RBI and a run scored. Freshman Drew Buchanan recorded his first career hit and RBI for North Florida as a pinch hitter.
On the mound, freshman right-handed pitcher Devin Diggs made his collegiate debut for North Florida. Diggs pitched three innings without allowing a hit or an earned run while striking out four and walking one.
Charleston Southern opened the scoring with one run in the first inning before adding two more runs in the second. The team broke out with eight runs in the third inning and added another run in the sixth to reach their final total.
The winning pitcher was Kale Hopke (1-0), who threw four innings for Charleston Southern, giving up two hits and two earned runs while striking out seven. Kai Etwaru (0-1) took the loss for North Florida.
Charleston Southern tallied 12 runs on seven hits without committing an error; North Florida managed four runs on five hits but committed four errors.
Chandler Tuupo led Charleston Southern offensively by going three-for-four at the plate with three RBIs and two runs scored.
North Florida will play its next game on Wednesday, February 18th at 4 p.m. Eastern Time when they travel to face Florida A&M for their first road contest of the season.
