ASUN notebook: More than 30 new baseball players at UNF and JU will get their Rumble introduction

The University of North Florida and Jacksonville University baseball teams have a combined 33 new players this season, a dozen for the Ospreys and 21 for the Dolphins.

That means 33 players who have yet to experience the crosstown rivalry, which resumes this weekend with a three-game series at UNF's Harmon Stadium, beginning on Friday at 6:05 p.m. and games on Saturday at 2:05 p.m. and Sunday at 1:05 p.m.

UNF coach Tim Parenton and JU coach Chris Hayes have a low-key approach to introducing their first-year players to the River City Rumble.

"They'll figure it out once the game starts," Parenton said.

Hayes said his first-year players have seen River City Rumble games in basketball, soccer and other sports, and already have an understanding of the rivalry and how it might translate to baseball.

Mincy honored: JU Dolphins' Jordan Mincy wins Joe B. Hall Award as nation's top first-year basketball coach

Osprey Zone: UNF pitchers set school records for consecutive shutouts, scoreless innings

"I don't have to say much on my part about UNF," Hayes said. "They've been in Jacksonville long enough, they've gone over for basketball games, seen some of the other sports ... the new guys know what the rivalry is like. They understand what's at stake. They'll be ready. It's UNF, which makes it fun."

JU (15-11, 3-6) is coming off a home series victory over Liberty and won the rubber game on Sunday by scoring four runs in the eighth to win 11-7. UNF (11-19, 2-7) has played its last nine games in a row on the road, going 3-6 but winning the last game against South Florida in Tampa on Tuesday, 13-10.

JU's Mason Adams (4-0, 3.37 ERA) will go against UNF's Max McKinley (2-2, 4.81) on Friday. The Dolphins will start Michael Darrell-Hicks (0-3, 5.04) and Christian Graham (1-1, 4.13) in the next two games, while the Ospreys will counter with Peter Holden (1-1, 2.53) and Tony Roca (0-4, 5.10).

Both teams are still trying to find themselves.

The Dolphins are 48-35 against the Ospreys and have won the last two since snapping a seven-game losing streak. They last met in the winner's bracket finals of the ASUN tournament at UNF last year, with JU winning 8-5 in 11 innings.

JU is getting good pitching (4.50 team ERA, third in the ASUN; 10.29 strikeouts per nine innings, second) but struggling at the plate (.250 team average, ninth in the league). Leading hitter Jesus Pacheco (.284) is 40th in the ASUN in average but Christian Coipel is sixth in the league in homers (6) and RBI (30).

However, the Dolphins are in much better shape than last year through the first 26 games, when they were 7-19. They're also playing typical JU baseball, going 2-0 in extra innings (both games on the road, including a 20-inning victory over Florida International), beating FSU 3-2, and losing to Florida 1-0.

"I'm pleased with where we are," Hayes said. "We haven't necessarily fired on all cylinders but we're putting it together and figuring out what we have to do to have success. Last week [against Liberty] was a big confidence-booster."

UNF is 10th in ERA (5.98) and third in batting (.282) but has been streaky in both cases. For example, the Ospreys scored nine or more runs in four of the games on their recent road trip and battered USF for 20 hits, 10 for extra bases. But UNF also lost to The Citadel 8-1 and was blanked by Stetson 3-0.

"One day we pitch, the next day we hit," Parenton said. "We haven't put it together at the same time."

The most pleasant surprise for the Ospreys is graduate senior Brock Edge, a Florida transfer from Lake City, who is hitting .321 with three homers, and team-highs in doubles (10) and triples (2).

Creekside graduate Cade Westbrook leads UNF and is seventh in the ASUN with a .364 average.

Two plays, two victories

The University of North Florida softball team swept a three-game home ASUN series against Central Arkansas last week, winning two of the games by accounting for all of the scoring on two plays.

In a 2-0 victory in the first game of the set on April 2, Abi Anett slammed a two-run homer with Shannon Glover aboard in the fourth inning. In the first game of a doubleheader the next day, Hayley Bejarano singled home Hadlee Reichert in the bottom of the eighth in a 1-0 victory.

The Ospreys (29-11, 8-4) won the final game 3-2.

Morgan Clausen (9-3) got the victory in the first two games in relief of starter Hallie Arends, then earned a save in the third game. In seven scoreless innings, Clausen allowed only two walks, five hits and struck out six.

Central Arkansas entered the series leading the ASUN in hitting but had only two runs and 12 hits.

The Ospreys are 23-4 at home this season after a 2-1 loss to UCF on Wednesday in which Arends (12-3) threw seven innings of three-hit ball, with six strikeouts. UNF plays at Jacksonville this weekend, with a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m. and a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Long wait for a victory

The JU men's lacrosse team was less than four minutes away from putting away High Point in the Southern Conference opener last Saturday at Rock Stadium -- and also from setting the team record for victories in one season.

The ninth-ranked Dolphins had to wait a bit longer for both.

Jacksonville led High Point 13-12 with 3:22 left when lightning resulted in a 75-minute weather delay.

When play resumed, the Dolphins' Jeremy Winston and High Point's Jackson Clay swapped goals, with Clay scoring at the 2:16 mark. But Troy Hettinger forced a turnover and High Point's Brayden Mayes was called for tripping with a minute left and the Panthers didn't get another shot off. JU won 14-13 to improve to 9-2 overall and the program record for victories, breaking the record shared by the 2013 and 2018 teams.

Winston, who had his 50th career game with a point, and Ethan LaMond led the Dolphins with five goals each. Jacob Greiner had two goals to break the program's single-season record of 37, set in 2019 by Evan Tyler. Greiner also scored in his 16th game in a row, the ninth-longest streak in the country.

"Today was a battle between two talented teams, and it could have gone a number of different ways," JU coach John Galloway said. "I was proud of our ability to handle runs in the first and third quarter, as well as the long lightning delay."

JU will play host to No. 17 Richmond on Saturday at 11 a.m. in another SoCon game.

Historic day for UNF women

The UNF women's golf team had a forgettable first two rounds of the Ironwood Invitational, in Greenville, N.C.

The last round nearly made up for it and the Ospreys now have some momentum heading into the ASUN tournament April 17-19 in Valdosta, Ga.

Led by sophomore Christine Eisenbeiss, the Ospreys came from 10th place after one round and ninth following 36 holes to tie for fifth with a program-record 12-under-par 276 at the Ironwood Country club. Eisenbeiss rallied from nine shots off the pace and in a tie for 29th to fire a closing 65 and tie Mary Kathyn Talledo of the College of Charleston at 2-under 214 for medalist, also tying the UNF record for low 18-hole round.

Eisenbeiss began the day trailing Viktoria Hund of Charleston and Maia Samuelsson of Charlotte, who shared the 36-hole lead of 4-under 140. Hund had a 76 and Samuelsson an 81, and Eisenbeiss birdied four holes in a row on the front nine, then added two birdies and an eagle on the back, with only one bogey.

UNF finished 13 shots behind Charleston, after beginning the final round 22 shots behind.

Sophomore Jessie Cai matched her college career low with a 68 to tie for third at 1-under. UNF was the only team to put together an under-par score during the final round.

"It was amazing to see the players dig deep and work together to set a new 18-hole program record," UNF coach Joanne Berglund said. "It's exciting to know we are playing our best golf as we head to the ASUN championship."

Ospreys corral Bison again

There is one sure thing: UNF men's tennis beating Lipscomb.

The Ospreys ran their record against the Bison to 15-0 last week with their 7-0 sweep at Nashville. UNF (13-6, 4-1) lost only one set and is now within one victory of matching the school record for the most dual-match victories of 14, set in 2019.

Only two matches were close. Jonas Hartenstein and Rodrigo Crespo defeated Sam Fischer and Alex Mesquid 7-6 (9-7) in second doubles; and Dominik Barton outlasted Fischer 16-14 in the fifth-singles tiebreaker after both players won a set.

Hartenstein beat Maksim Bogdanovich 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles to run his record to 12-4 and Barton teamed up with P.J. Kortan to beat David Skrabut and Luka Stojanovic 6-4 in third doubles.

The Ospreys will play their final regular-season home match on Friday against North Alabama.

Player of the week watch

Nick Gabrelcik, UNF men's golf: The sophomore from Trinity captured his second ASUN player of the week award and the seventh of his career for earning a share of the individual championship in The Hayt. Gabrelcik shot 6-under 210 at the Sawgrass Country Club to defend his title and lead the Ospreys to the team championship. It was his fourth individual title and the first time a UNF player has won The Hayt in back-to-back years since David Bennett in 2000 and 2001.

Jenny Kinsey, JU women's lacrosse: Kinsey, a graduate student, was named the ASUN player of the week after collecting seven goals and two assists in the Dolphins' 10-9 victory over Cornell.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: ASUN notebook: UNF, JU baseball trying to find identity in three-game set