JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida baseball hosts Jacksonville State Thursday, April 6 through Saturday, April 8 in a three-game set at Harmon Stadium. This series marks the beginning of a season-long nine-game home stand as well as the first games between the two teams as league foes.

Thursday's game is 2000's Night where the first 75 fans receive a free t-shirt.

GAME DETAILS
Date: Thursday, April 6 - Sunday, April 8
Time: 6:05 p.m. | 6:05 p.m. | 1:05 p.m.
Location: Harmon Stadium
Opponent: Jacksonville State
Watch: SWOOPLife Live
Live Stats: unfospreys.com

Weekend Starting Pitchers
Thursday
UNF | LHP Peter Holden
JSU | RHP AJ Causey

Friday
UNF | RHP Dominick Madonna
JSU | RHP Tanner Jones

Saturday
UNF | RHP Clayton Boroski
JSU | Eli Zielinski
 
All-Time Series: UNF leads, 3-2

• This is the first-ever meeting between UNF and JSU as league foes
• North Florida and Jacksonville State first met in 2012
• UNF and JSU last played in 2013, with the two teams splitting the two games

Last Time Out
TAMPA - With two outs and USF (12-18) batting with the tying run at third base, Matthew Clements charged a chopper to third and threw on the run to get USF's Eric Snow at first, ending the game in favor of UNF, 5-4, in 10 innings Tuesday, April 4.

Last Time vs. Jacksonville State
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida baseball team split a pair of games of a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at Dusty Rhodes Field at Harmon Stadium to improve to 9-3 on the season – the best start for the Ospreys in the Division I Era. The Ospreys dropped a 5-2 decision with Jacksonville State before earning a 9-1 victory over Charleston Southern.
 

---

Home Cooking

• North Florida is 13-6 in home games this year and 2-1 in league play
• The Osprey are hitting .307 as a team in those games
• UNF has hit 34 homers at home, averaging nearly two per game in games at Harmon Stadium
• Alex Lodise has already hit eight homers at home this season, driving in 22
• North Florida has swiped 30 bags in 36 chances as well

Settling In

• North Florida had an eight-game home stand to start the season, one of its longest in program history to open a year
• But, this week North Florida begins a season-long nine-game home stand that includes a series with Jacksonville State and Central Arkansas, as well as midweek games with FAMU, USF and Florida State

Green Light Means Go

• Austin Brinling is first in the league with 15 stolen bags, converting every attempt
• Aidan Sweatt isn't far behind, swiping 11 bases in 13 attempts
• North Florida paces the league with 50 stolen bases, good for 35th nationally
• UNF is already only 22 stolen bases from setting the UNF DI-era single season team record set with 71 in 2013

Notables

• UNF has 48 homers this year, already nine more than all of last season
• UNF ranks second in the league in home runs, RBI, total bases, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and first in stolen bases
• 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 set the UNF single season freshman home run record
• Lodise had five hits Saturday, tying the UNF DI era program record
• The Ospreys hit three grand slams last weekend, two coming from Jakob Runnels and the other from Austin Brinling
• UNF has hit four grand slams in the last six games
• UNF won every non-conference regular season weekend series for the first time in the DI era.
• UNF starts the second half of the regular season this week

---

Scouting JSU

• Jacksonville State is 14-14 and 7-2 in league play during its second season of ASUN competition
• Jacksonville State swept series against Queens and Bellarmine, while taking one of three against Kennesaw State last weekend
• The Gamecocks opened the year with an 8-5 win against Georgia and also picked up a 10-6 win at Ole Miss March 14
• JSU has put up some strong numbers offensively, hitting .301 as a team while scoring nearly seven runs per game
• T.J. Reeves and Mason Maners have both belted five home runs this season, 
• JSU pitchers are holding hitters to .265 at the dish
• The Gamecocks have fielded it well, leading the league with a .978 fielding percentage 
• Reid Fagerstrom is tied with UNF's Stephen Halstead for second in the league with six saves
• AJ Causey has a pair of complete games this year
• Jim Case is 660-543 during his tenure at Jacksonville State in his 22nd season

 

---

MORE UNF NOTES

Walk-Off Dubs Hit Different

• UNF has won via walk-off five times this year, with three coming last week
• March 25 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 March 21
• 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 as of Sunday, April 2
• Halstead has turned in a 2.16 ERA per 12 appearances, fanning nearly one batter per inning

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 12 multi-home run games, including three five-home run games, good for tied for the UNF DI-era record. The Ospreys have had 12 different players homer at least once this season.

Weekend Winning
UNF has won five of seven 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.