JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - UNF baseball concludes a season-long five-game road stint with the non-conference finale as the Ospreys head to Founders Park to take on No. 6/7 South Carolina Tuesday, May 9 at 4 p.m.
The game will be streamed on SECN+ as the Ospreys play their fourth and final game against a Power Five team during regular season play.
Two of the nation's top freshmen square off as UNF's
Alex Lodise and SC's Ethan Petry have a combined 37 home runs and 127 RBI.
GAME DETAILS
Date: Tuesday, May 9
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Columbia, S.C.
Opponent: South Carolina
Watch: SECN+
Live Stats: statbroadcast.com
All-Time Series vs. South Carolina
- South Carolina leas the all-time series, 4-0
- North Florida is playing South Carolina for the fourth-straight year and for the fifth time in six seasons
- All four contests have been played in South Carolina
- All four games have been decided by three runs or less
- The Gamecocks won last year's game, 4-2
Last Time Out
FLORENCE, Ala. - North Florida baseball (25-23, 11-13 ASUN) completed the road sweep of North Alabama (9-36, 3-21 ASUN), getting a season-best 5.2-scoreless frames from
Lance Bolton and a three-run home run from
Matthew Clements in the 5-2 win Sunday, May 7.
Last Time vs. South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Abraham Sequera doubled in two runs with two outs in the sixth to tie things up, 2-2, but South Carolina (16-16) hit a solo home run in each of its next two innings on offense as North Florida baseball was edged by the Gamecocks, 4-2, Tuesday, April 12, 2022.
Projected Starting Pitchers
UNF | RHP
Avery Love
SC | RHP James Hicks
Weekend Winning
- North Florida is coming off a weekend sweep of North Alabama
- It's UNF's first road-weekend sweep of an ASUN team since 2021, while also the first weekend sweep of any ASUN foe since that same season. The Ospreys swept JU twice that season, the same year JU appeared in the Columbia Regional.
- Two-out hitting was the key as North Florida hit .357 with two outs and tallied 11 two-out RBI
Big Week for the Hometown Guy
- Jacksonville Beach, Fla., native Matthew Clements had a big week
- The third baseman hit .444 with five runs, two doubles, four RBI, .722 slugging, one stolen base, 10 assists, five putouts and two game-winning hits
- Clements' three-run home run Sunday was the first of his career
Scouting South Carolina
- South Carolina is sixth in the latest DI Baseball poll
- The Gamecocks are tough to beat at home, going 25-3 in contests at Founders Park
- SC is 36-11 overall and 14-9 in SEC play
- South Carolina was swept by No. 17 Kentucky in Lexington this past weekend
- They are 5-0 against like opponents, having swept Florida while defeating USC Upstate twice
- South Carolina's breakout story of the year is freshman Ethan Petry, a Land O'Lakes, Fla., native that has hit 21 home runs while driving in 68 and hitting .395
- The Gamecocks are one of the most explosive offenses across DI ball, clubbing 102 home runs while slugging .544
- SC ranks third in home runs and fifth in walks across NCAA Baseball
- The pitching staff has a lot of power arms, posting 10.1 strikeouts/nine innings 3.12 strikeout-to-walk ratio and the fifth-best WHIP in the country at 1.26.
MORE UNF NOTES
Marking Off More Milestones
- Aidan Sweatt surpassed 100-career runs last weekend, reaching that total in just 143 games
- The infielder is up to 183 hits and is hitting over .300 for the second-straight season
- In 147 games played, Sweatt has made 144 starts
Lodise Knocks off Another Record
- Alex Lodise moved past UNF Hall of Famer Donnie Dewees for the program single season freshman record in RBI last weekend
- The freshman shortstop has 59 RBI on the year, second in the country for RBI
- Lodise ranks tied-for-third in home runs and runs among
eshmenfr
Awesome in the ASUN
- UNF has five players hitting above .300 during league play, paced by Cade Reich and Austin Brinling
- Reich leads North Florida in hitting during conference play, hitting .381 with 13 runs, 32 hits, five doubles, two home runs, 12 RBI and nine steals
- Brinling leads the way, hitting .385, although his table-setting numbers are through the roof. The outfielder has scored 27 runs, laced seven doubles, driven in 16, walked 18 times and stolen eight bags.
- Alex Lodise, Aidan Sweatt and Cherokee NIchols are all above the .300 mark against ASUN pitching. Matthew Clements isn't far behind, hitting .298.
Halstead Hauls in More Honors
- After being tabbed to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Preseason Stopper of the Year Watch List at the start of the season, Halstead earned a spot on the midseason squad thanks to his effort of six saves and a 2.50 ERA thus far.
- The righty is one of 18 hurlers from the preseason list to make the midseason squad, with the finalists being announced in early June.
Dominant Madonna
- UNF baseball took a game in the road series at Liberty, the last series between the two teams as league foes
- North Florida won game two, 8-3, behind a nine-inning complete game effort from righty Dominick Madonna
- Madonna spun 128 pitches, 30 more than his previous career high, setting an innings pitched career high as well
- It was the first complete game by a UNF righty since 2019. The last UNF righty to throw a nine-inning complete game was Nick Marchese in April of 2019.
- Madonna has gone at least seven innings over each of his last four starts
- The righty was 3-0 over five appearances during April, fanning 21 in 33.1 innings
- He's also 5-0 over his last seven outings
- Madonna went eight innings, earning the win in UNF's 9-3 win Saturday
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
Touch 'em All
- North Florida surpassed the 60 home run milestone
- It's the first time the Ospreys have reached that marker in a season since 2015
- UNF has 29 more home runs this season than all of last year
- North Florida is 4 homers shy of setting the UNF DI-era single season record
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 (48), fourth in doubles (12), tied for fourth in triples (2), first in RBI (59), tied for third in hits (63) 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 set the UNF single season freshman home run record
- With his two homer day Friday against Queens, Lodise set the UNF record for single season RBI among freshman
- Lodise had five hits Saturday April 1, tying the UNF DI era program record
Green Light Means Go
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
