University of North Florida
Jacksonville
Rumble brewing for Ospreys
3/5/2009 12:28:19 PM | Baseball
UNF opens A-Sun slate against Jacksonville
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (March 5, 2009) - After a landmark win over No. 6 Florida State on Wednesday, the University of North Florida baseball team will go back to work this weekend in a clash with cross-town rival Jacksonville in the SunTrust River City Rumble.
UNF will take on JU beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, followed by 1 p.m. matchups on Saturday and Sunday. It will be the first Atlantic Sun Conference series of the season for both teams in a series that has traditionally been contested in May.
Freshman Steve Hillan sent the Ospreys jumping for joy on Wednesday night when his first collegiate hit was a home run that put UNF up for good to knock off No. 6 Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla. Senior RHP Ty Pryor shut down the Seminoles, pitching 2.1 hitless innings while striking out four to seal the win. FSU was the highest-ranked Division I opponents the Ospreys had ever defeated, and it was also the first time in five tries UNF had beat the Seminoles.
Jacksonville preceded UNF on Tuesday night with a win over FSU, taking down the Seminoles, 9-4, in Jacksonville. The Dolphins held the Seminoles to four hits and were led by Brad Simmons' 2-for-2, three RBI performance. Kyle Kriech picked up the win after tossing 3.0 innings and not allowing any hits.
The Ospreys have won the conference series between the teams the past two years, and both times it helped UNF clinch the SunTrust Old Wooden Barrel in the SunTrust River City Rumble. Junior Preston Hale tore up the Dolphins in last year's series at Harmon Stadium, going 5-for-10 with six runs scored. The Ospreys reached double digits in hits in every game of last year's series and averaged 11 runs per game.
What: at Jacksonville - SunTrust River City Rumble
When: Friday, March 6 - 6:30 p.m.; Saturday, March 7 - 1 p.m.; Sunday, March 8 - 1 p.m.
Where: Sessions Stadium (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Admission: $5
Live video: Click here
Radio: WBOB-AM 1320 in Jacksonville (Saturday)
UNF's Record: 4-6, 0-0 Atlantic Sun
JU's Record: 4-4, 0-0 Atlantic Sun
Probable Pitching Matchups: Friday: UNF - RHP Phil Rorabaugh (0-2, 4.66 ERA, 9 K) vs. JU - RHP Carson Andrew (2-0, 3.00 ERA, 9 K); Saturday: UNF - LHP John Atteo (1-1, 2.25 ERA, 6 K) or LHP Michael Kelly (0-0, 5.68 ERA, 6 K) vs. JU - LHP Kyle Kriech (2-1, 7.84 ERA, 13 K); Sunday: UNF - RHP John Frawley (1-0, 6.48 ERA, 6 K) vs. JU - RHP Glenn Witkowski (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 4 K)
Series History: JU leads, 22-10
Last Series Result: UNF won, 2-1, in 2008 at Harmon Stadium (May 2 - JU won, 14-11; May 3 - UNF won, 14-7; May 4 - UNF won, 8-3)
Who's Hot: Redshirt freshman Andrew Karmeris is currently on a seven-game hitting streak and has hit .438 during that streak. In Wednesday's upset of Florida State, Karmeris tallied an RBI double for his third two-bagger of the year. He is currently second on the team behind Hale for multiple hit games with five.
Notables: UNF is 5-7 all-time on JU's campus ... the Ospreys have won four of the last six meetings between the teams ... Hale is a career .458 hitter against the Dolphins ... the Ospreys are opening their conference slate with a Florida team for the fourth consecutive season (Stetson in 2006 and 2007; Florida Gulf Coast in 2008) ... there are 24 players between both teams from the Jacksonville area (13 for UNF, 11 for JU) ... former UNF baseball student- athlete Todd Claus, a member of UNF's 1991 NAIA World Series team, is in his first season as a JU assistant coach ... the Ospreys have hit a combined .332 the last two years against the Dolphins ... UNF will be going for its first conference- opening series win since 2006, when it took the series with Stetson, 2-1 ... the Ospreys have knocked out at least one home run in each of their last five games ... UNF has been quite successful getting on base this season, hitting .331 with the bases empty and .449 in the leadoff spot.
