University of North Florida
Liberty
Baseball to Host Liberty in Home Opening Weekend
2/24/2011 5:17:10 PM | Baseball
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida baseball team opens up a 13-game homestand with a four-game series with Liberty at Dusty Rhodes Field at Harmon Stadium. The four-game tilt begins with a single game on Friday, Feb. 25, at 7:00 p.m. The two teams will square off in a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26, and conclude the series with a single game on Sunday, Feb. 27, at 1:00 p.m.
North Florida opened the 2011 season with a 2-1 series victory on the road over Charleston Southern. The Ospreys opened the Smoke Laval Era with a 12-8 victory against the Buccaneers. After dropping a 2-1 decision, North Florida claimed the series with a 7-0 shutout.
North Florida and Liberty have met only once before on the baseball diamond. The Flames claimed a 3-2 victory over the Ospreys on March 13, 1996 at Harmon Stadium in Jacksonville.
Liberty is the second school in the Big South Conference that the Ospreys play this season. Overall, North Florida is 21-6 (.778) against current members of the Big South, including a 14-3 (.824) mark at Harmon Stadium.
The four-game tilt with Liberty opens the home season for the Ospreys. In its history, North Florida is 17-6 (.739) in home openers.
Last season, North Florida was 1-5 (.167) in the month of February. However this season, the Ospreys are 2-1 (.667) to open the season with four games remaining in the month.
The Ospreys welcome 17 new players to the roster in 2011. This is 48.6-percent of the entire roster. Of the 18 returning players, only eight players on the team have played for more than one season, of which six are seniors.
Fans will be able to follow the game via live stats.
Scouting the Opposition:
Liberty (1-3) picked up its first victory of the year, a 5-4 win over host Mercer, last Sunday at Claude Smith Field. The Flames broke a tie contest with a run in the seventh inning, and reliever Josh Richardson shut down the Mercer bats the rest of the way to seal the win.
Currently, the Flames are in the midst of a season-long nine game road trip to open the season. Liberty travels to Mercer, North Florida and Virginia Tech for games to begin the year. The Flames will travel 2,314 miles for contests during the road swing. Its trip to Jacksonville is the longest of the year.
