JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida baseball makes its second conference road trip of the year and first-ever trek up to Richmond, Ky., when the Ospreys take on EKU Friday, March 31 through Sunday, April 2.

The Ospreys look to avenge a 2022 ASUN Championship Postseason loss to EKU as UNF goes for its sixth weekend series win of the season.

GAME DETAILS
Date: Friday, March 31 | Saturday, April 1 | Sunday, April 2
Time: 6 p.m. | 6 p.m. | 11 a.m.
Location: Richmond, Ky.
Opponent: EKU
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: ekusports.com

Weekend Starting Pitchers
Friday
UNF | LHP Peter Holden
EKU | RHP Rese Brown

Saturday
UNF | RHP Dominick Madonna
EKU | RHP Cameron Kalandros

Sunday
UNF | TBD
EKU | RHP Luke Reed
 
All-Time Series: EKU leads, 1-0

• UNF and EKU met for the first time in the opening round of the 2022 ASUN Championship in Fort Myers, Fla.
• The Colonels got the edge in that one winning 5-3

Last Time Out
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - After exchanging the lead, North Florida baseball (14-11, 3-3 ASUN) found itself trailing by two in the ninth before scoring three in the final frame to walk-off on Stetson (15-11, 4-2 ASUN), 8-7, Sunday, March 26. Aidan Sweatt delivered the game-tying two RBI single and Austin Brinling drove in the winning run with a single to left center, giving North Florida its fifth-straight home series win on the year.

Last Time vs. EKU
FORT MYERS, Fla. - In a game that saw 21 combined runners left on base, North Florida baseball was two runs short against Eastern Kentucky in a 5-3 loss to the Colonels to open up ASUN Championship Pool Play at JetBlue Park Tuesday, May 24.
 

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Notables

• UNF has 40 homers this year, already one more than all of last season
• North Florida ranks second in runs per game and slugging as well as first in stolen bags
• 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
• Lodise needs one more home run to set the UNF single season freshman home run record
• UNF won every non-conference regular season weekend series for the first time in the DI era.
• North Florida has won five of six weekend series this year
• UNF will hit the midway point in the season with Sunday's game
• Cade Reich had reached safely in 23-straight games
• Austin Brinling leads the league in stolen bases with 13, converting every attempt

Walk-Off Dubs Hit Different

• UNF has won via walk-off five times this year, with three coming within the last week
• Last Saturday, Alex Lodise hit the first grand slam of his career with a towering big fly on a hanging breaking ball, sending UNF to a 16-6 mercy rule win
• One day later, Aidan Sweatt and Austin Brinling combined for three ninth inning RBI to give North Florida an 8-7 walk-off to clinch the series
• Former UCF Knight, Jakob Runnels, mashed a walk-off three-run home run with two outs in the ninth, giving North Florida a 4-2 win against UCF Tuesday
• In the first game of the year, Runnels hit a walk-off pinch hit RBI single in a 3-2 10-inning win against Murray State
• Drew Leinenbach put down a walk-off squeeze bunt in a 6-5 10-inning win against Fordham March 4

17 Ks

• UNF pitchers combined to fan 17 batters and leave 16 UCF runners stranded in the 4-2 win Tuesday, March 21
• North Florida's 17-strikeout performance tied the program single game record. 
• It's the third time in UNF history North Florida has reached that mark, with the most recent coming in a game at No. 7 Florida State in March of 2019

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

Hot Start for Halstead

• Righty Stephen Halstead ranks tied for third in the nation for saves with six
• He has turned in a 1.13 ERA through 11 appearances, doubling his saves total from his entire career prior to this season
• He is holding hitters to just a .160 batting average at the dish

 

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Scouting EKU

• EKU is coming off a busy midweek slate, winning road games against Morehead State and Dayton
• The Colonels are 1-5 in league play this year, dropping two of three against Bellarmine and all three meetings against Kennesaw State a weekend ago
• EKU is starting three right-handed pitchers this weekend
• Friday starter Rese Brown is one of five Floridians on the EKU roster, hailing from Orlando before attending Seminole State College of Florida for junior college ball
• Chris Prothro is in his third season at the helm at EKU. The 2005 Arkansas State graduate helped EKU to a 38-20 mark last season and a 20-10 mark in ASUN Conference play. He previously served as the recruiting coordinator at South Alabama
• Charlie Ludwick and Logan Thomason are the big bats for EKU, both clubbing four homers while combining for 35 RBI
• Teams are out-hitting EKU, .275 to .247
• Eastern Kentucky pitchers have turned in a 6.55 ERA, fanning 189 while walking 142

 

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MORE UNF NOTES

Run Up the Roundtrippers

• 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 10 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.

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