Baseball | 3/30/2017 4:32:00 PM

JACKSONVILLE -- The North Florida baseball team opens up ASUN Conference play with a three-game series against Kennesaw State at Harmon Stadium beginning Friday at 6 p.m. The teams will also play Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. 

UNF Game Notes (PDF)

GAME DAY CENTRAL
WHAT: North Florida (18-10) vs Kennesaw State (11-14)
WHERE: Dusty Rhodes Field at Harmon Stadium (3,600)
WHEN: Friday, Mar. 31 (6 p.m.) | Saturday, Apr. 1 (1 p.m.) | Sunday, Apr. 2 (1 p.m.)
THE SERIES: Kennesaw State leads 43-39
LAST MEETING: - In last year's contests, the Owls claimed a 2-1 series victory in Kennesaw on Apr. 1-3 (G1 KSU 2-1 | G2 KSU 10-4 | G3 UNF 9-2)... The last series in Jacksonville, UNF took 2 of 3 games vs KSU (G1 UNF 2-1 | G2 UNF 5-4 | G3 KSU 2-1)
Special Promotions:
Friday: SWOOPband Giveaway to the first 50 fans
Saturday: Hat Giveaway to the first 75 fans
Sunday: Ozzie's Osprey Egg Hunt; Post-game egg hunt on the field for all children under 12
**NOTE TO FANS - On Sunday (Apr. 2), all fans attending the UNF-KSU baseball game are encouraged to park in the parking deck adjacent to UNF Arena. The Jacksonville Armada FC will be playing their season opening game at Hodges Stadium and will be charging $5 to park in Lot 18 (the large lot close to outfield of Harmon Stadium) beginning at 1 p.m.

FOLLOWING THE ACTION
LISTEN: 1010XL AM
LIVESTATS: UNFOspreys.com
TICKETS: Purchase Tickets

MOUND MATCH-UPS
Friday
UNF - Austin Drury (LHP, 4-1, 3.13 ERA, 31.2 IP, 12 BB, 29 K)
KSU - Tony Dibrell (RHP, 2-2, 1.16 ERA, 38.2 IP, 13 BB, 47 K)

Saturday
UNF - Frank German (RHP, 4-0, 1.54 ERA, 35.0 IP, 12 BB, 38 K)
KSU - AJ Moore (RHP, 2-2, 5.52 ERA, 31.0 IP, 17 BB, 27 K)

Sunday
UNF - Brad Depperman (RHP, 1-1, 6.86 ERA, 21.0 IP, 5 BB, 19 K) 
KSU - Mason Ward (LHP, 2-1, 3.08 ERA, 26.1 IP, 10 BB, 22 K)

NOTEWORTHY
- North Florida and Kennesaw State have met 82 times previously in a pretty evenly played series with KSU holding a slight 43-39 edge all-time... The Owls hold a 24-13 edge over the Ospreys during their ASUN tenure (since 2006)
- The pair have battled each other as NAIA, NCAA D2 and NCAA D1 opponents ... UNF and KSU first met on May 13, 1988 in the NAIA District 25 Tournament
- Ospreys open the 2017 season with 26 of first 32 games at home with the Kennesaw State series marking the last of seven consecutive weekends of home series
- UNF has not lost a weekend series this season including a series sweep of Penn (Mar. 3-5)... The Ospreys split both of their four-game series this year against Northeastern and Rutgers
- North Florida has claimed the opening game in 5 of their 6 weekend series so far this year
- UNF has been most explosive in the 2nd inning (37 runs)... Ospreys are outscoring opponents 64-20 over the first two innings of games
- Ospreys have held 12 opponents under 3 runs scored, owning an 11-1 record when accomplishing that feat
- UNF is 15-1 when scoring first and own a 9-2 record when tallying runs in their first at-bat
- STREAKING: Chris Berry owns the team's longest current hit streak (7) and shares team lead for on-base streak (16) with Chris Thibideau... Alex Merritt has a 6-game hit streak entering the weekend... Yahir Gurrola saw his second double-digit hit streak snapped earlier this week - He has had streaks of 12 and 10 games and only gone hitless in 5 games this season
- ASUN RISING: North Florida leads the ASUN Offensive rankings in Batting Avg, Runs, Hits, RBI, Doubles and Total Bases / Ospreys are 2nd in Slug% & HR...  On the Mound, UNF ranks 2nd in ERA, Strikeouts and Saves and is 4th in Opp Batting Avg... UNF also features the top fielding team in the conference and have committed the 2nd fewest errors
- Four Ospreys are ranked in ASUN Top 10 for hitting: Yahir Gurrola (6th), Chris Thibideau (7th), Tanner Murphy (9th), Alex Merritt (10th).. Gurrola also tops the league charts in Runs, Hits, Doubles and Total Bases and is second in RBI and HRs
-FACE THE NATION: UNF is currently listed in NCAA Top 50 for Hits (6th), Runs (26th), Doubles (23rd), HRs (46th)... Gurrola ranks 3rd in runs and hits and is 23rd in doubles and 11th in total bases

SCOUTING KENNESAW STATE
Roster | Schedule | Statistics | Notes

1. Kennesaw State enters the weekend with an overall record of 11-14 through 25 non-conference games, outscoring opponents 175-161 in those games. The Owls are coming off their lone midweek game with a 10-7 win at Georgia State in Atlanta.
2. The Owls open ASUN Conference play as the reigning 2016 Regular-Season ASUN Champions, going 17-4 a season ago where the Black and Gold won every series for the first time in program history, and the first since FGCU accomplished the feat in 2010. 
3. Head Coach Mike Sansing is the reigning ASUN Coach of the Year, winning his first honors since Kennesaw State joined the ASUN in 2006. He is the second-youngest coach on the 1,000-win list, and is one of 13 active coaches with 1,000 victories who have coaches at least 10 seasons of D-I baseball. 
4. The skipper won his 950th game Thursday (March 16) at Western Carolina, taking a 12-3 non-conference tilt at Hennon Stadium. The win also snapped a three-game losing skid in Cullowhee, N.C. 
5. The Owls return 26 members from 2016, a team that won 17 games in the ASUN and became the first team since 2010 (FGCU) to win each regular-season conference series. 
6. Kennesaw State has been solid on the road this season, entering the weekend with a 4-3 overall record in seven games. The Owls have outscored opponents 57-37 on the road, out-hitting 77-63, and have slugged .465% and totaled an on-base percentage of .408. 
7. Taylor Allum continues his hot bat, leading KSU with a .366 batting average. Allum leads the ASUN in batting average, home runs (10) and RBI (27), while slugging a team-high .756. 
8. Grant Williams has also been hot with the bat in his hands over the past several weeks, and enters the weekend on a 10-game hitting streak. The junior second baseman is hitting .459 over the stretch and has logged six multi-hit games. 
9. Griffin Helms, a junior catcher, is also riding an eight-game hitting streak into the weekend, batting .433 over the stretch. Helms has tallied three multi-RBI games during the eight games, totaling 10 runs driven in on 13 hits, including four doubles, one triple and one HR.

UP NEXT
North Florida will host College of Charleston on Tuesday at 4 p.m. before hitting the road for the first time on a weekend with a trip to Lipscomb on Apr. 7-9.