DELAND, Fla. (Interstat) — Nash Rippen drove in four runs with a home run and two doubles to lead North Alabama past Florida Gulf Coast 6-5 in the ASUN Baseball Championship on Saturday evening.

The Lions jumped ahead in the first inning and never trailed. Florida Gulf Coast answered with three runs in the bottom of the first, but North Alabama regained the lead in the third on Rippen’s RBI double and Wes Walker’s two-run homer. Rippen added an RBI double in the fifth and a two-run homer in the seventh to make it 6-3.

The Eagles scored once in the seventh and once in the ninth on a double by Gonzalez, but the Lions held on. John Allen Stogner earned the win, allowing no hits over five innings with three earned runs and two strikeouts. Kelly Crumpton tossed three scoreless innings. Dylan Coleman went 4-for-5 for North Alabama.

Sebastian Lippman took the loss for Florida Gulf Coast, yielding one earned run over 4 2/3 innings with four strikeouts. The Lions improve to 31-27 overall, while the Eagles fall to 36-22.