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Jacksonville hosts North Florida in baseball River City Rumble: three things to know

Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union
·3 min read
The University of North Florida's Matthew Clement is caught in rundown during a 2023 game against Jacksonville University at Sessions Stadium.
The University of North Florida's Matthew Clement is caught in rundown during a 2023 game against Jacksonville University at Sessions Stadium.

The Jacksonville University baseball team will host the University of North Florida in a three-game ASUN series beginning on Friday at John Sessions Stadium.

The Friday and Saturday games will begin at 7 p.m. and Sunday’s game will start at 1 p.m. The Dolphins are 16-19 overall and 10-5 in the ASUN, in a four-way tie for first with Stetson, Florida Gulf Coast and Kenesaw. The Ospreys are 17-17 overall and 7-8 in the ASUN.

Tickets are available while they last at tickets.ju.com.

Both teams are coming into the weekend with a slight limp. They each lost a conference set two games to one last week, JU at Austin Peay and UNF at home against Lipscomb. The Dolphins gave up 36 runs in those three games and the Ospreys yielded 42.

They were both hammered on the road by state rivals on Tuesday, JU falling 12-1 at Florida and UNF 10-5 at UCF.

Here are three things to know about the baseball version of the River City Rumble:

Rivalry has been streaky

The Dolphins have won six of the last seven games against UNF and last year swept the season series for the first time since 2006. JU has an overall 47-38 lead in the rivalry. The current streak came after the Ospreys won nine of 11.

JU is 16-16 at home against UNF and has won the last six at Sessions Stadium.

The series comes in the middle of the season, a change from last year when they played the final three-game set and the series winner qualified for the ASUN tournament while the loser stayed home. The Dolphins swept it, including the final game when Blake DeLamielleure had a natural cycle, capped by a walkoff home run in the 11th inning in a 3-2 victory.

What’s the series mean to the ASUN standings?

Jacksonville, which lost its first conference series of the season last week, is a in four-way tie for first with Stetson, Florida Gulf Coast and Kennesaw. The Ospreys are 17-17 overall and 7-8 in the ASUN, tied for sixth with Lipscomb and Eastern Kentucky.

Jacksonville University second baseman Justin Nadeau leaps for a throw earlier this season against Stetson.
Jacksonville University second baseman Justin Nadeau leaps for a throw earlier this season against Stetson.

The top eight teams qualify for the ASUN tournament May 21-26 at Melching Field at Conrad Park in DeLand.

Unlike last season, the JU-UNF series comes at the midpoint of the league schedule, so there’s time to make up for any setbacks.

Who’s hot

JU: Sophomore 2B Justin Nadeau (.395, 36 runs) is on a nine-game hitting streak. The Bartram Trail graduate is batting .394 and scored 12 runs during that span; junior catcher/first baseman Josh Steidl is on a six-game hitting streak, with a .333 average in that span; freshman RHP Isaac Williams of Fleming Island has a 3.60 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 10 innings in ASUN games.

UNF: Senior catcher Jakob Runnells is 11 of 26 (.423) in his last eight games, with three home runs and 10 RBI; junior catcher/DH Jabin Bates is on a seven-game hitting streak, batting .524 (11 of 21); senior LHP Tony Roca, a Ponte Vedra High graduate, has struck out 28 batters in his last 24 innings. He's 4-2 this season and second in the ASUN with a 2.72 ERA.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: JU, UNF baseball limping into River City Rumble coming off losses