JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida baseball finishes up the regular season with an extremely important crosstown series at Jacksonville beginning Thursday, May 18.
UNF can almost certainly secure an ASUN Championship berth by taking two of three this weekend. The top eight teams in the league standings make the conference tournament, with UNF just one game back of that cutoff. Two games separate seven teams with three league games remaining across the ASUN. With one UNF win this weekend the Ospreys secure the River City Rumble barrel outright.
GAME DETAILS
- Date: Thursday, May 18-Saturday, May 20
- Time: 7 p.m. | 7 p.m. | 1 p.m.
- Location: Jacksonville, Fla. (at JU)
- Opponent: JU
- Watch: ESPN+
- Live Stats: judolphins.com
All-Time Series vs. JU
- North Florida and JU have played 89 times
- The Ospreys are 14-10 against JU since 2018
- JU took both meetings at John Sessions Stadium a year ago
- UNF took two of three from the Dolphins at home last season
- Their last game against one another was in a neutral site setting in Fort Myers May 25, 2022
Last Time Out
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - UNF baseball took a brief lead in the first inning on an
Alex Lodise RBI double, but the FGCU (37-14, 19-8 ASUN) bats found their groove in the series finale as the Ospreys (28-24, 13-14 ASUN) had their season-best six-game winning streak snapped in the home finale on Mother's Day Sunday, May 14.
Last Time vs. JU
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Five Ospreys had multi-hit games,
Justin Holmes and
Abraham Sequera launched towering home runs and
Jason Gonzalez turned in a quality start as UNF baseball upended Jacksonville, 9-3, in one of North Florida's most complete wins on the year.
Roundtripper Record
- UNF baseball set the program single season home run record for a team during the program's DI era, reaching 74 this past weekend
- The previous school record was 71, set back in 2010
- The all-time record is 92, posted in 1999
SC Top Ten
- Aidan Sweatt made Monday, May 15th's SportsCenter Top 10 list after making a sliding over-the-shoulder catch on a deep flare in Sunday's game against FGCU
- Sweatt is the second Osprey to make the list this season after Austin Brinling made the list back in April on a game-saving diving catch
Swiped
- UNF has stolen 71 bags in 90 attempts this year
- The Ospreys are currently tied for the most stolen bases in the program's DI era, previously set in 2013
- The all-time record stands at 136 back in 1988
May Flowers
- The North Florida Ospreys have flourished in May, going 6-2 during this month
- The Ospreys swept North Alabama on the road, while going to No. 6 South Carolina and winning 8-5 before taking two of three against FGCU in the home-series finale
- UNF's six wins came consecutively, tying its best streak since 2019
- Austin Brinling and Aidan Sweatt are both hitting over .400 during this month
Scouting Jacksonville
- JU is 30-22 and 14-13 in league play, currently in a four-way tie for fifth place in conference competition
- The Dolphins dropped two of three against Stetson this past weekend, blowing a late lead to drop the rubber game Sunday
- JU nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback at Georgia Southern yesterday, falling behind 9-0 in the first inning before rallying and coming up just short, 9-8
- Jacksonville has a 21-10 record in games at John Sessions Stadium
- JU has earned three in-state Power Five wins, defeating No. 2 Florida, No. 14 Miami and Florida State
- Freshman righty Evan Chrest has shouldered the responsibility as the ace on the staff, going 6-2 with a 2.81 ERA, 86 strikeouts and 80 innings worked over 13 starts
- Richard Long and Christian Graham have tallied the next-highest innings worked total on the team
- Sophomore righty and Garden State native Chris Lotito joined UNF righty Stephen Halstead on the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List. He has 11 saves but succumbed to a scrappy Stetson team in the ninth inning Sunday, blowing a save while permitting two runs. Lotito hasn't worked more than 1.2 innings in an outing this year.
- Florida graduate transfer Kris Armstrong accounts for nearly half of JU's home runs and roughly 20 percent of all RBI, belting 22 home runs to go with 63 RBI. He took home national attention after hitting eight home runs and driving in 20 runs during a week in March.
- Shortstop Chase Malloy has beefed up his power numbers, joining Armstrong as the only other student-athlete on the roster with double-digit home runs.
MORE UNF NOTES
DI Power Rankings
Three Ospreys came in on the latest DI power rankings report
Dominant Madonna
- Dominick Madonna is 8-2 and leads the league in wins
- The righty is the first Osprey pitcher since Frank German in 2018 to reach eight wins
- Madonna is also 17th in the country in wins and is 3-0 over the last 15 games
- He's been great in league play, going 6-1 while winning six of his last eight decisions
Brooks Wallace Watch List
- Alex Lodise was tabbed to the Brooks Wallace Watch List last week
- The freshman phenom was also named ASUN Player of the Week April 3, the first UNF freshman to earn that distinction since Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist Donnie Dewees in 2013
- Lodise joined former UNF assistant coach, Andrew Hannon, as Brooks Wallace Watch List selections
Freshman Records
- Alex Lodise has already set the UNF single season freshman home run record, belting 16, six better than the previous record
- The shortstop is well on his way to more freshman records. He's first in runs (51), fourth in doubles (13), tied for fourth in triples (2), first in RBI (61), tied for third in hits (65) tied for second in stolen bases (6).
- Alex Lodise scored five runs in a win against Fairfield this season, the most runs by a UNF freshman in a single game in at least the DI era
- Lodise had five hits Saturday April 1, tying the UNF DI era program record
Walk-Off Dubs Hit Different
- UNF has won via walk-off six times this season
- The latest was one of the wildest as North Florida walked off on Florida State, 15-14, via a wild pitch in the bottom of the tenth
- 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
