Final Home Series for @OspreyBSB Begins Friday Night

Friday, May 13

Jacksonville, Fla.

6:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

USC Upstate

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5/12/2016 4:42:00 PM | Baseball

By: Scott Fitzgerald | Athletic Communications

Game Notes (PDF)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida (31-17, 9-6 A-Sun) will host USC Upstate (20-25, 3-11 A-Sun) in the final home series at Harmon Stadium of the 2016 season. All three games will be can be seen live on ASunTV and also can be heard all weekend on 1010XL. The series is presented by Bank of England.

Postseason Scenario: The Ospreys can clinch a spot in the 2016 ASUN Championship with one win this weekend vs. USC Upstate. It would mark the Ospreys fourth-straight appearance in the conference tournament.

Schedule Note: Prior to Saturday's contest, the Ospreys will honor their six seniors, Kyle Brooks, Dakota Higdon, Nick Karmeris, Corbin Olmstead, Daniel Moritz and Keith Skinner with a ceremony that will begin at approximately 12:40 p.m.

Game Information

Date	Time	Location	Coverage
Fri. May 13	6:00 p.m.	Harmon Stadium	Live Stats \| ASunTV \| 1010 AM
Sat. May 14	1:00 p.m.	Harmon Stadium	Live Stats \| ASunTV \| 92.5 FM
Sun May 15	1:00 p.m.	Harmon Stadium	Live Stats \| ASunTV \| 1010 AM & 92.5 FM

Probable Starting Pitchers

Friday
USC Upstate: RHP Tyler Jackson (4-2, 3.45 ERA, 62.2 IP, 14 BB, 77 SO)
North Florida: RHP Bryan Baker (3-4, 2.55 ERA, 67.0 IP, 24 BB, 66 SO)
Saturday
USC Upstate: RHP Zach Mitchell (5-3, 5.30 ERA, 52.2 IP, 14 BB, 50 SO)
North Florida: LHP Austin Drury (4-1, 5.02 ERA, 52.0 IP, 19 BB, 33 SO)
Sunday
USC Upstate: RHP Cody Brittain (2-1, 4.46 ERA, 34.1 IP, 22 BB, 38 SO)
North Florida: TBA

Series Info

Friday will be the 47th meeting between North Florida and USC Upstate with the Ospreys holding a 39-7 advantage in the all-time series.
The Ospreys have won eight of the last 10 games against the Spartans including a three-game sweep in Spartanburg last season to clinch the A-Sun Regular Season Championship.
The 39 wins against USC Upstate is second only to the 40 against Flagler College, for the most against an Osprey opponent.

Out of the Box

The Ospreys are looking for their fourth-straight A-Sun series win after sweeping Stetson and taken 2-of-3 from FGCU and Lipscomb.
In the midweek, both home teams emerged victorious in a home and home with Georgia Southern. The Ospreys had their four-game win streak against the Eagles snapped in Wednesday's 2-0 loss.
A season-high 20 hits powered the Ospreys to a dominating 13-4 win on Tuesday. The Ospreys had three, 20-hit efforts in 2015.
North Florida closed out its non-conference schedule this week and totaled 22 wins, the second most in the school's D-1 era.
The Ospreys have scored in the first inning in four of the last seven games and are 16-2 when scoring the first run in 2016.
As a team, the Ospreys eclipsed the 500-hit mark for the season and rank 22nd in the country with 513.
Junior Alex Merritt matched a single game D-1 era record with five hits on Tuesday. He is the 12th Osprey since 2006 to collect five hits in a game. He finished the night 5-for-5 with three runs scored (ties a career-high) and an RBI.
For the third time this season and the sixth time in his career, Kyle Brooks racked up four hits in a game with 4-for-6 performance at the plate on Tuesday. He also matched a career-high with three RBIs.
So far this season, the Ospreys have tallied 13 come-from-behind victories including two in A-Sun play. (Lipscomb 5/7 & 5/8)
With 33 career home runs, Corbin Olmstead is seventh among active players in NCAA Division I baseball. He needs three to tie the program's all-time mark held by Brian Fleetwood (1997-2000).
Alex Merritt is third on the team with five home runs. He is responsible for both of the team's 3-run homers and all five long balls have come with runners on base.
Including the 20 hits on Tuesday, the Ospreys improved to 24-3 when collecting 10 or more hits in a game.
The Ospreys are 23-8 at home and with two more wins will break the school's D-1 era mark of 24 set in 2013 & 2015.
At No. 56 in the latest NCAA RPI rankings, the Ospreys are right behind Jacksonville at No. 55.
With three games played this weekend, Kyle Brooks will move into fifth place on the program's all-time games played list. He has also been hit by 25 pitches in his career, two shy of tying the school mark.
In 15 A-Sun games this season Keith Skinner is batting .429 (24-for-56) with 13 runs, three doubles and 10 RBIs.
In his last five games, Nick Karmeris is 10-for-22 (.455) is the team's hottest hitter. He has scored four runs, and totaled 12 bases.
North Florida leads the A-Sun in five different categories: batting average (.305), hits (513), home runs (38), slugging percentage (.430) and double plays (54).
Aided by his three-home runs against FGCU last month, Chris Thibideau has leads the league with a .744 slugging % in league play
As a team, the Ospreys have struck out only 238 times, the lowest total in the A-Sun by 60 strikeouts.
Despite ranking seventh in stolen bases (24), the Ospreys have won 13 of their last 15 games when swiping a bag.
A total of 15 of the 38 home runs for the Ospreys have led-off an inning (Karmeris - 6, Olmstead-4, Thibideau-3, Diaz-2)

On the Mound

Tyler DuPont worked 3.2 innings of relief on Wednesday night. He struck out three batters and walked none. He ranks 2nd in the A-Sun and 16th in the country in walks per nine innings (1.08).
Seven different pitchers toed the rubber in the midweek, allowing only six runs on 14 hits vs. Georgia Southern.
Reliever Alex Smith worked another scoreless inning on Tuesday night, running his scoreless inning streak up to 18 innings.
Junior Matthew Naylor recorded the save on Saturday and threw a season-high 72 pitches in 4.2 innings of relief on Sunday. He is second in the A-Sun with 26 appearances. He made 28 appearances in 2015, one shy of tying the D-1 era school mark held by Josh Papelbon (2006).
Friday night ace Bryan Baker has an A-Sun low, 2.55 ERA and has allowed only 10 earned runs in five starts vs. A-Sun opponents.
As a staff the Ospreys have 340 strikeouts and an A-Sun low, 139 walks.
Corbin Olmstead notched his 13th career win on Sunday which is the fifth most in the program's D-1 era. His five strikeouts on Sunday were a season-high and he now has 163 for his career, fourth most in the D-1 era.
Baker is five strikeouts shy of taking over 7th on the program's D-1 era strikeout list.
The trio of Baker, Matthew Naylor and Tyler DuPont each have 11 career wins, the ninth most in the program's D-1 era.
The Osprey bullpen was responsible for 20 innings pitched in three games vs. Lipscomb. A total of six pitchers combined for a1.80 era while striking out 14 and walking seven. Four of the six pitchers did not surrender a run in 2.0 innings each.

In the Field

The Ospreys matched a season-high on Wednesday with three double plays against Georgia Southern.
Senior shortstop Kyle Brooks leads the Atlantic Sun with 151 assists.
Catcher Keith Skinner has thrown out 15 runners attempting to steal, second most in the A-Sun.
The Ospreys have tallied 54 double plays this season, the seventh most in the country.
Nick Karmeris leads the Ospreys with eight outfield assists. He is the fifth Osprey outfielder since 2001 to record eight or more assists in a single season.

Opponent Information

USC Upstate Statistics | USC Upstate Schedule

USC Upstate: The Spartans are fighting for their postseason lives, currently on the outside looking in. The Spartans trail FGCU by three games in the loss column. The Spartans outslugged the Eagles last weekend winning two of three. In Saturday's series-clinching win, USC Upstate prevailed, 21-18, its highest offensive output of the season. Coming into the weekend, the Spartans lead league in triples with 20. Two-way player Cody Brittain, who leads the league with five three-baggers, is tied with Keith Skinner for the league's second-highest batting average (.384). Friday night's starting pitcher Tyler Jackson is second in the league with 77 strikeouts.