Baseball Battles Bethune-Cookman in Midweek Home-and-Home Series

By: North Florida Athletics

Baseball | 3/27/2017 3:32:00 PM

JACKSONVILLE -- The North Florida baseball team plays a home-and-home midweek series against Bethune-Cookman this week. UNF travels to Daytona Beach on Tuesday night before hosting the Wildcats on Wednesday (5 p.m.) at Harmon Stadium.

GAME DAY CENTRAL
WHAT: North Florida (17-9) at Bethune-Cookman (17-8)
WHERE: Jackie Robinson Ballpark (4,200)
WHEN: Tuesday, March 27 - 6:00 PM
THE SERIES: UNF leads 18-8
LAST MEETING: The Ospreys and Wildcats faced each other three times last season with UNF taking 2 of the 3 contests. The last meeting was a 12-6 North Florida victory on Apr. 5 at Harmon Stadium. UNF also posted a 13-1 win at BCU to open the set while Bethune earned a 4-1 win in the middle game of the series... UNF and BCU will be meeting on the the diamond for the 12th consecutive season

FOLLOWING THE ACTION
Livestats: BCUAthletics.com

ON THE MOUND
UNF - Cooper Bradford (RHP, 1-0, 18.2 IP, 1.93 ERA, 11 BB, 22 K)
BCU - Alexis Herrera (RHP, 2-1, 21.1 IP, 3.80 ERA, 10 BB, 18 K)
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WHAT: North Florida (17-9) at Bethune-Cookman (17-8)
WHERE: Dusty Rhodes Field at Harmon Stadium (1,000)
WHEN: Wednesday, March 28 - 5:00 PM
THE SERIES: UNF leads 18-8
LAST MEETING: The Ospreys and Wildcats faced each other three times last season with UNF taking 2 of the 3 contests. The last meeting was a 12-6 North Florida victory on Apr. 5 at Harmon Stadium. UNF also posted a 13-1 win at BCU to open the set while Bethune earned a 4-1 win in the middle game of the series... UNF and BCU will be meeting on the the diamond for the 12th consecutive season

FOLLOWING THE ACTION
Livestats: UNFOspreys.com

ON THE MOUND
UNF - Adam Polansky (RHP, 1-1, 19.2 IP, 4.12 ERA, 8 BB, 13 K)
BCU - Tyler Krull (RHP, 2-1 20.2 IP, 3.48 ERA, 7 BB, 9 K)
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NOTEWORTHY
- UNF is 4-2 in midweek games this season with all but one of them played on the road
- North Florida has won 5 of their last 6 games against Bethune-Cookman
- BCU enters the midweek series having won 9 of 11 including taking their weekend series vs North Carolina A&T
- Ospreys are 14-7 at home this season with wins in 5 of their last 7, while Bethune is 3-3 on the road... Wildcats own a 14-5 home mark and UNF is 3-2 away from Harmon Stadium
- The 2nd inning has been UNF's most productive with the Ospreys outscoring opponents 35-10 in the second frame... North Florida has outscored opponents 60-16 in first two innings
- Only three players have played and started in every game this season for UNF: Yahir Gurrola, Patrick Ervin, Alex Merritt... Gurrola (RF) and Ervin (SS) have started in the same positions every contest while Merritt has played 114 games at 1B and 12 games at 3B
- Gurrola owns the longest current hit streak for UNF at 10 games, marking his second hit streak this year of 10+ games as he also posted a 12-game stretch... He has hit safely in 22 of the last 23 games
- Three Ospreys have current double digit streaks for reaching base led by 15 games for Chris Berry, 14 by Chris Thibideau and 10 for Gurrola
- UNF leads the ASUN in batting with a .300 average (45th in the NCAA)... The Osprey lineup features three of the league's top six hitters: Gurrola (2nd / .370), Thibideau (5th / .355) and Tanner Murphy (6th / .354)
- Ospreys also top the league lists for Runs Scored, Hits, RBI, Doubles and Total Bases... UNF is ranked 2nd in the conference for Slug% and Homeruns
- In addition to his batting rank, Gurrola also ranks second in the ASUN for Slug%, while leading the league in Runs Scored, Hits, RBI, Doubles, Total Bases and ranking second for Triples and Homeruns... He ranks among the National leaders in Hits (2nd), Runs (3rd), Runs per Game (10th), Doubles (20th), Total Bases (7th)
- On the mound, North Florida owns the 3rd ranked staff ERA (3.51) in the ASUN with Frank German listed third at 1.54... UNF has tallied 225 strikeouts (4th in ASUN) led by German's 38 (10th)... With four wins each, German and Austin Drury share the conference lead with several other hurlers... Matthew Naylor is second in the conference with 3 saves this season
- North Florida is also the ASUN's top fielding team, owning a .977 fielding percentage... Ospreys have committed a league low 22 errors and turned 15 double plays (2nd)

UP NEXT
North Florida opens ASUN Conference play with a three-game home series versus Kennesaw State this weekend (Mar. 31-Apr. 2). Friday's league lidlifter is set for 6 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday's contests scheduled for first pitches at 1 p.m. All three games will be carried live on 1010XL (AM) with Richard Miller on the call.

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Players Mentioned

#21 Chris Berry: UTL; 6' 0"; Sophomore; L/R

#30 Austin Drury: LHP; 5' 11"; Sophomore; L/L

#3 Patrick Ervin: 2B; 6' 0"; Redshirt Senior; L-R

#1 Frank German: RHP; 6' 2"; Sophomore; R/R

#4 Alex Merritt: INF; 6' 1"; Senior; R-R

#39 Matthew Naylor: RHP; 6' 3"; Redshirt Senior; R/R

#16 Adam Polansky: RHP; 6' 4"; Junior; R/R

#15 Chris Thibideau: UTL; 6' 0"; Senior; R/R

#24 Tanner Murphy: OF; 6' 3"; Freshman; R/R

#7 Cooper Bradford: RHP; 6' 1"; Freshman; R/R

Players Mentioned

#21 Chris Berry
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; L/R
: UTL

#30 Austin Drury
: 5' 11"; Sophomore; L/L
: LHP

#3 Patrick Ervin
: 6' 0"; Redshirt Senior; L-R
: 2B

#1 Frank German
: 6' 2"; Sophomore; R/R
: RHP

#4 Alex Merritt
: 6' 1"; Senior; R-R
: INF

#39 Matthew Naylor
: 6' 3"; Redshirt Senior; R/R
: RHP

#16 Adam Polansky
: 6' 4"; Junior; R/R
: RHP

#15 Chris Thibideau
: 6' 0"; Senior; R/R
: UTL

#24 Tanner Murphy
: 6' 3"; Freshman; R/R
: OF

#7 Cooper Bradford
: 6' 1"; Freshman; R/R
: RHP