DIAMOND PREVIEW: Softball Back On Road To Face Jacksonville State

Saturday, March 26

Jacksonville, Ala.

2 p.m.

University of North Florida

Jacksonville St

DIAMOND PREVIEW: Softball Back On Road To Face Jacksonville State

3/25/2022 12:00:00 PM | Softball

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida softball (25-7, 4-2) will head back on the road for their third ASUN series of the year when the Ospreys face off against Jacksonville State (17-12, 1-2) this weekend at University Field in Alabama.

The first games will start on Saturday with a doubleheader at 2 pm and 4:30 pm EST, followed by a single game at 2 pm on Sunday afternoon.

This will be the first games this season that the Ospreys will be playing outside the state of Florida. It will also be the first time that UNF will be playing Jacksonville State as an ASUN opponent.

WHAT TO KNOW

- Morgan Clausen continues to be one of the most dominant pitchers not only in the ASUN, but across the country, with a 0.50 ERA in 56 innings pitched, as well as six wins and three saves in 14 appearances. She leads the conference in ERA and saves, while also striking out 52 batters on the season.

- Halle Arends and Erin Kyle have matched Clausen in production as well with both of their ERAs sitting under 2.00, which are now the only three pitchers in the conference under that mark. Arends' 71 strikeouts this season is top-three in the ASUN, while Kyle's 11 starts leads the UNF team on the year.

- Kayla McGory had an insane stretch of games this week after recording a combined three hits and two runs against Bucknell, followed by back-to-back three-hit games against Lipscomb with five runs, three RBI, and her fourth home run this season. She also saw her first action playing first base this season, while Takiya London moved to second, Savannah Channell to shortstop and Hadlee Reichert to third.

- Paige Pfent leads the team in batting with a .396 mark and has recorded a hit in 26 of her last 32 games played. She also leads the conference with 38 total hits and shares the team-lead in home runs with McGory at four total.

- Shannon Glover and Kayla Harper are the other two strong bats on the team with a combined 64 hits, 38 runs and five home runs to their names. They also join McGory and Pfent as the only four batters on the team to play in 75% of games and have over a .300 batting average.

- Abi Annett sparked some offense for the Ospreys last weekend after going a perfect 3-for-3 in the first game of the series against Lipscomb. She also scored twice in that game and hit the first home run of her career.

OPPONENT NOTES

Jacksonville State is 17-12 on the season, including a 1-2 record to start ASUN play against Kennesaw State. They have played in five different non-conference tournaments this season, including the Jacksonville State Invite where they hosted Samford and Austin Peay. The Gamecocks are led by three hitters that are currently batting over .300 with Megan Fortner (.354), Lindsey Richardson (.353) and Karsen Mosley (.308). They make up for 76 hits, 43 RBI, 39 runs and 10 home runs so far this year. In the circle, they've consistently been using three pitchers with Kat Carter taking the lead on 103.1 out of 186.2 total innings pitched. Carter has a 2.71 ERA with 63 strikeouts, while Sarah Currie leads the team in ERA at 2.20 with 63.2 IP and 39 strikeouts.
- UNF trails in the overall series against the Gamecocks, 1-2, with their last meeting being a 6-5 loss on Feb. 14, 2015, in Jacksonville, Fla.

UP NEXT

The Ospreys will come back to play in single-game matchup against No. 2 Florida State at the University of Jacksonville on Wednesday, Mar. 30.

SERIES SCHEDULE

Saturday
UNF vs Jacksonville State (DH) - 2 p.m. ET
UNF vs Jacksonville State (DH) - 4:30 p.m. ET

Sunday
UNF vs Jacksonville State - 2 p.m. ET