PENSACOLA, Fla. - The No. 35 West Florida baseball team begins Gulf South Conference play against North Alabama Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 14-15, at Jim Spooner Field. The Argonauts (5-1) and Lions (6-1) play a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m. and a single game Sunday at 1 p.m.
UWF is looking to bounce back from its first loss of the season Feb. 11 at Spring Hill. UWF started the season with a pair of key South Region wins against No. 16 Florida Southern before taking three games from Rollins, Albany State and Flagler during the second weekend of the season. UWF had outscored its opponents 36-13 before its first loss.
UNA comes to Pensacola, Fla. riding a two-game winning streak after a pair of lopsided wins over Lemoyne-Owen. The Lions outscored Miles, Stillman and Lemoyne-Owen 70-28 to start the season.
History of UWF and UNA
UWF swept UNA in a three-game series to open GSC play last season. The Argos won games 3-2, 2-0 and 4-0. The doubleheader sweep was the first time since 1984 that UNA had been shut out in back-to-back regular season games.
In 2013, UWF took two out of three games from UNA in Pensacola. In 2012, UWF lost two out of three games at UNA. In 2011, UWF won two games in a rain-shortened series and defeated the Lions 6-1 in the NCAA South Regional.
Scouting North Alabama
The Lions rotation is led by Riley Sanderson (2-0; 2.00 ERA) and Brantley Claunch (1-0; 2.45 ERA). Brett Guzay leads the team with a .571 batting average and Dylan Boston leads the team with 14 RBIs. Brandon Pugh (8-10 SB-CS) and Heath Wood (10-11) are both threats on the base paths.
Boston, Kyle Conkle and reliever Jacob Westerhouse are returning 2014 All-GSC honorees.
Kerkmann named GSC FOW
Nick Kerkmann was named the Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Week after excelling in his Argonaut debut last week.
Kerkmann went 6-for-9 with two doubles, 3 RBIs, four runs and a stolen base last week. He hit 4-for-5 with a double, 2 RBIs and three runs in his UWF debut, a 13-3 mercy ruling of Albany State Feb. 7. He followed that performance by going 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored in a 9-0 win over Flagler later that day.
The Oviedo, Fla. native boasts a .615 batting averaging, a .615 on base percentage and a .769 slugging percentage with four runs and three RBIs in 13 at bats this season.
