JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - UNF baseball takes a short break from ASUN play when it continues its midweek rivalry games with UCF Tuesday, March 21 at 6:05 p.m. from Harmon Stadium.

Tomorrow night's game will be streamed on ESPN+ and it is the second meeting between the two teams on the season.

GAME DETAILS
Date: Tuesday, March 21
Time: 6:05 p.m.
Location: Harmon Stadium
Opponent: UCF
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: www.unfospreys.com

Weekend Starting Pitchers

Tuesday
UNF | RHP Will Ohme
UCF | LHP Jacob Marlowe
 
All-Time Series: UCF leads, 18-15

• UNF and UCF are meeting for the second time this season and for the only time at Harmon Stadium
• Alex Lodise homered and Jakob Runnels launched two opposite field home runs in the last meeting, March 7 in Orlando. 
• The Knights won that game with a big night from Tom Josten
• UNF won two of five meetings against each other last year

Last Time Out
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - UNF scored two in the second inning and Austin Peay (8-12, 2-1 ASUN) followed with four in the fourth as North Florida (11-10, 1-2 ASUN) got the go-ahead run to the plate in the ninth for the second-straight game before falling, 4-2, in the series finale Sunday, March 19.

Last Time vs. UCF
ORLANDO - Both UNF and UCF homered a trio of times in a game featuring two teams ranked in the top 15 in roundtrippers in the nation, but the Knights pulled ahead with a six-run fifth that included a grand slam as the Ospreys (8-6) had their four-game winning streak snapped following a 10-3 loss at UCF (9-3) Tuesday, March 7.
 

---

Walk, Then Run

• UNF averaged eight walks per game during the weekend series against Austin Peay
• North Florida walked at least seven times per contest, including nine times Sunday
• The Ospreys took advantage of those opportunities on the bases by stealing 13 bags, including five apiece against Austin Peay March 17 and 19
• Four of UNF's five stolen bases Sunday came in the second inning

Hot Start for Halstead

• Righty reliever Stephen Halstead turned in 3.2-scoreless innings against Austin Peay last weekend, his longest outing since April 16 of last season
• The effort brought his ERA even lower, all the way down to 0.66 on the season

Notables

• UNF has three more non-conference home games remaining on the season
• UNF is only five home runs short of its mark from last year. The Ospreys are on pace for 105 home runs, which would be good for a program record.
• North Florida ranks second in the league in hits, home runs, sac flies and slugging
• Alex Lodise scored five runs in a win against Fairfield two weekends ago, the most runs by a UNF freshman in a single game in at least the DI era
• UNF won every non-conference regular season weekend series for the first time in the DI era.
• He ranks fifth in DI with five saves

 

---

SCOUTING UCF

• UCF is 15-5 and currently on a five-game winning streak
• The Knights swept Dartmouth last weekend and also took two from No. 21 Florida State during last week's midweek contests
• UCF is 5-0 against the ACC on the season after sweeping Clemson in South Carolina Feb. 24-26
• The Knights are coming off a wild weekend of baseball that saw them hit seven home runs. 
• Andrew Sundean was a big part of that production, hitting .545 with 14 RBI last week en route to AAC Player of the Week honors. 
• UCF ranks fourth in the nation in homers with 45
• The Knights haven't lost a road game this year, downing Clemson three times, Florida State once and Bethune-Cookman once
• Lefty Jacob Marlowe enters 2023 having thrown the most innings among UCF freshman a year ago 

 

---

MORE UNF NOTES
National Noise

• UNF has exploded out to 215 hits through 21 games, good for second in the league and 29th nationally. North Florida's 34 home runs is good for second in the league and 26th nationally.
• Freshman Alex Lodise is fourth in the league in home runs with seven, just three shy of setting the UNF single season freshman home run record.

Run Up the Roundtrippers

• UNF has homered 34 times this season, already only 5 shy of the team total from all 55 games played last season.
• UNF hit 18 home runs through the first eight games, setting a North Florida record for at least the DI-era.
• North Florida has posted eight multi-home run games, including two five-home run games, good for tied for the UNF DI-era record. The Ospreys have had 11 different players homer at least once this season.

Freshman Phenom

• Freshman phenom Alex Lodise has dazzled non-conference foes through the first 21 games of his collegiate career. 
• The Bartram Trail product is hitting .295 with 23 runs, 23 hits, four doubles, one triple, seven home runs, 17 RBI and 50 total bases.

Weekend Streak
UNF has won four of the first five weekend series of the season, taking two of three from Murray State, Villanova and Fairfield, while sweeping a four-game set with Fordham. 

In-State Stretch
UNF played the first 18 games of the season inside the Sunshine State.

You Look Familiar

• Jakob Runnels homered twice against his former team, UCF, Tuesday in Orlando
• Runnels second home run of the evening came against former Osprey, Zach Chappell, as the Ospreys faced three former ASUN hurlers on the evening. 
• Former Hatter, Dominic Stagliano, started the game while former FGCU Eagle Najer Victor came on in relief

Newcomer Contributions
13 different Ospreys made their UNF debuts, with nine making their first-career starts this season.

First Game Magic
Eric Fouraker came in as defensive substitution Feb.  22 against USC Upstate and proceeded to single in his first at-bat. He went on to launch a two-run home run to left field in his next trip up, making him the second Osprey in five games to homer in their UNF debut, joining Alex Lodise.

Walk-it Off Ospreys

• UNF has blown some games open this year, but the Ospreys have also dug deep in one-run games, going 3-1 in one-run games this year
• Two of those games have been won via a walk-off, with UNF doing so in a 3-2 win against Murray State and a 7-6 win against Fordham Saturday
• Both of those wins have come in extra innings
• Jakob Runnels ripped a walk-off pinch hit RBI single in the season opener, while Drew Leinenbach put down a walk-off squeeze bunt Saturday against Fordham

UNF Roots 
Blake Pound has homered twice this season, both of which came against Fairfield this past weekend. He joins his father, Joe, as the only father-son duo in UNF history to have homered at UNF. Joe was a member of the UNF baseball team in the 90s. 

Austin Brinling attended the University of Florida out of high school, but his UNF connection ran deep before that. Austin's uncle, Tim, is a UNF alum and received a resolution from the UNF senate wishing Austin a happy, healthy and successful life when Austin was born in 2000.