BB: UNF at USF In-State Matchup Tuesday

[Brad]

Courtesy USF SID

USF Baseball Hosts North Florida At 6 p.m. On Tuesday Night At Red McEwen

TAMPA, Fla. (March 19, 2007) –  The University of South Florida baseball team (15-7) will host the University of North Florida Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Red McEwen Field.  

The Ospreys hold a 1-0 series lead over the Bulls after picking up a 6-5 win in their only meeting, which was Feb. 21, 2006 in Tampa.

USF picked up two-of-three games from Pittsburgh last weekend to improve its record to 15-7 overall and 2-1 in the BIG EAST Conference. The Bulls are batting .314 this season with 228 hits in 725 at bats. USF has outscored its opponents 163-123 and has 34 more RBI than the adversary (144-110).

After starting the year 0-7, UNF is now 10-14 this season. The Ospreys come into Tuesday’s game after a 1-2 weekend with Stetson, dropping the first two, 9-1 and 12-2, but winning the third contest 8-5. North Florida is 235-for-852 at the plate for a .275 average this season. The Ospreys have tallied 130 runs and 111 RBI in 24 games while notching 12 home runs and 50 doubles.  

USF junior Walter Diaz is batting a team-high .391 for USF, tallying 36 hits in 92 at bats. He leads the team with a .522 slugging percentage, which includes one home run and nine doubles. Diaz has stolen nine bases, five more than anyone else on the team.  

Freshman Matt Quevedo (1-0) will be on the mound for USF on Tuesday, earning his fourth start and making his seventh appearance. Quevedo owns a 4.38 ERA after allowing 24 hits and 18 runs in 24.2 innings. The right hander has struck out 12 while allowing eight walks this season.

UNF’s Jon Dandridge leads the Ospreys offensively, batting .354 (29-82) in 24 games. He has tallied a team-high 17 RBI and is tied for the most home runs (2) and doubles (7) on the squad.

After the mid-week game with UNF, the Bulls travel to Indiana for their first out-of-state series, a BIG EAST match up with Notre Dame. USF and the Fighting Irish meet March 23, 24 and 25 in South Bend.  

[JoeB]

Brad you beat me to it.  I was just researching UNF to try to see who is the starting pitcher for tomorrow's game.  It looks like it can be one of three or four guys.  They always field a pretty competitive baseball team, so we can't take them lightly or look ahead to Notre Dame.  You gotta love the nickname though, the Ospreys.

Side note, my nephew is on scholarship at UNF for soccer.  

[theman123]

Exciting.  I wish i could get over to the game.  

[CoolBull1]

I was thinking this was a "gimme".   Not sure there's any such thing in college baseball though.  Hopefully, our Bulls remember what happened to them at the hands of the Ospreys last season.

[JoeB]

Didn't they win the Division 2 Baseball Championships a few years ago too?  I think they are trying to jump into Division 1A for all sports now.

[outrunner]

Didn't they win the Division 2 Baseball Championships a few years ago too?  I think they are trying to jump into Division 1A for all sports now.

They lost the championship to Florida Southern, 3 games to 2 I believe. Their at the end of their first year of a 4 year prohbation period in the move to D-1.

Do not overlook this program. I've gone to alot of their games with my Dad (he's a UNF alumni) and they can hang with almost any of the big dogs. Just last week they took Ohio State to 10 innings. It should be a good game. (plus, I want to have some bragging rights for the season)

[JoeB]

Need some good innings out of Matt Quevedo tonight.  Also, we need the bats to wake up.  I think I read that we're only averaging 6 hits over the last three games.  Hopefully the hitting picks up and stays with us when we head up to Notre Dame this weekend.  Big stretch of games for the Bulls starting tonight as the homestand comes to an end.