FLORENCE, Ala. (May 4, 2025) – The University of North Alabama baseball team won its final home game of the season against Lipscomb at Mike D. Lane Field at Bank Independent Stadium against, 4-1.
The Lions (17-28, 11-13 ASUN) were led by senior Dylan Morrill, who earned his first start on the mound and threw seven scoreless innings as his team took the lead.
The Bisons (22-24, 15-9 ASUN) were held to just five hits for the game as the Bisons average came out to .161 – the eighth-lowest for them this season.
The Lions used two pitchers for the game with Morrill earning his first start in the purple and white. This is the senior's longest outing with 7.0 innings. His previous most was 5.0 against Central Arkansas on March 14 in a winning effort. His five strikeouts were the second most for him this season.
Gavin Oswald earned his third save of the season as he closed out the final two innings and tossed three strikeouts in the nine batters he faced.
North Alabama got back to their old ways as the lead-off man hit .500 tonight. If a runner was on third with less than two outs, the Lions hit .800.
Five different batters earned the six hits for UNA with Ryker Billingsley, Jonathan Lane, Petey Craska and Ryan West all crossing the plate to create the four runs.
Lane officially passed North Alabama great, Josh Willingham for fourth all-time in career hits as a Lion as he went 1-for-3 on the afternoon for No. 206 in his career.
As Morrill touched the mound for his first appearance, he broke the cycle from the weekend and held Lipscomb scoreless in the first inning. He struck out two Bisons right away in the first three batters.
West led off and was hit by a pitch on the first thrown ball. Craska singled to right field and the speedy West moved all the way to third. Delgado put a shot out to right field for the sacrifice fly to plate the first run.
Then the battle of the defenses ensued. Both teams were held scoreless until the sixth inning.
Morrill went three-up and three-down during this stretch twice. However, in the sixth inning he found himself in a pinch.
A single ricocheted off of Morrill to third for a base hit. The next batter hit off the end of his bat back to Morrill for the first out as the initial runner made his way to second. He then stole third.
The next two batters walked. Matthew Delgado went out to speak to his pitcher, then head coach Jad Prachniak joined the conversation.
Bases loaded in a 1-0 ball game with one out for North Alabama.
Morrill threw a heater down the middle to David Coppedge, who hit the home run a day ago. This time, he sent one back to Leighton Jenkins at shortstop who pitched to Lane at second and sent it to Craska for the double play.
The dugout went into a frenzy. So much so, that Coach Prachniak joined along to let Morrill know how well he did with some fist pumps and inflating words for getting out of the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Lane was hit by a pitch and then advanced on a balk. Billingsley walked to join Lane which forced the Bisons into a pitching change.
A wild pitch moved both runners around. Then coaching staff got together with the base runners and Bryant Loving who was next to hit.
As they broke and two runners in scoring position, Loving took his spot. In a 1-0 count, the sophomore laid a bunt down which sent Lane streaking home. Bisons put in a tough spot, could not get either out as UNA took the 2-0 lead with a runner on third.
Jenkins stepped in and did the same thing, this time he was out at first but still plated another run for the 3-0 lead.
Moriill continued his scoreless outing into the seventh. In the bottom of that inning, Petey Craska roped one to left center that bounced off the fence for a double. Delgado then singled to put runners on the corner.
Jayden Sloan stepped in to pinch hit, his first game action since Feb. 28 against UAB as he has recovered from injury. The Bisons decided another pitcher was needed. Sloan, as they say did the job, as he hit a sacrifice fly bomb to center field to score Craska for the 4-0 lead.
Oswald toed the rubber in the eighth. One runner scored but the junior left-hander forced two ground outs and struck one Bisons out. He struck out two more in the top of the ninth to finish out the game, 4-1. This marked Oswald's third save of the season.
Pitchers of Record
W – Dylan Morrill (3-2)
L – Davis Rokose (2-1)
S – Gavin Oswald (3)
COMING UP NEXT
North Alabama gets on the road to play UT Martin on Tuesday, May 6 in Martin, Tenn. at 5 p.m.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
