PENSACOLA, Fla. - The No. 4 West Florida baseball team begins play in the Gulf South Conference Tournament against No. 3 seed West Georgia May 2 in Livingston, Ala. The tournament is hosted by top seed West Alabama at Tartt Field.
With a win on the first day, UWF would play the winner of No. 2 seed Alabama Huntsville and No. 5 seed Valdosta State. With a loss on the first day, UWF would play the winner of UWA and No. 6 seed Delta State.
Last season, UWF began the tournament with wins over UWG and UAH before suffering its first loss against Delta State. UWF came back to mercy rule VSU the next day before being eliminated by UAH on the final day.
The Argonauts would likely need to win the GSC Tournament, securing an automatic bid, to advance to the NCAA Tournament. UWF was not in the top eight in the latest NCAA South Region rankings.
Pitching Staff
The Argos lead the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.88), are second in the country in walks allowed per nine innings (2.05), third in shutouts (10), fourth in walks plus hits per innings pitched (1.14) and 11th in ERA (3.08).
The Argo staff leads the GSC in innings pitched (385.2), strikeouts (341), fewest walks allowed (88) and fewest balks (1).
UWF pitchers have the best stolen-base allowed percentage in the GSC (.556). UWF has allowed a conference low 15 steals and has caught 12 base runners.
Catcher
Kyle Hamner leads the GSC in stolen-base allowed percentage (.545). He's allowed 12 steals and caught 10 base runners in 43 games played.
Situational Hitting
The Argonauts' regular leadoff and No. 2 hitters in the lineup,
Chase Kiefer and
Ledarious Clark, were named to the All-GSC second team. Kiefer leads the GSC in steals (22) and steals per game (0.5), and Clark is second in steals (19) and spg (0.4). UWF leads the GSC in steals (72).
4-time GSC Freshman of the Week
Nic Strasser and 3-time FOW
Nick Kerkmann moved into 3rd and 4th in the lineup thanks to .329 and .341 batting averages, respectively.
Behind them in the lineup are
Alex Greene and Hamner, who are tied for third all-time for the most sacrifice bunts (11) in a single season at UWF. Greene is also the second-toughest player to strike out in the GSC, striking out once every 14 at bats. UWF ranks first in the South Region and eighth in the country in sacrifice bunts (52).
Top Pitchers
Brandon Nagem. The Gulf South Conference Pitcher of the Year is having a historic season for UWF. Nagem is tied for first in the GSC in ERA (1.91), is first in strikeouts (88), first in WHIP (0.86), first in walks per nine innings (1.10) and second in opponent's batting average (.202).
He's tied for first in the South Region in ERA, second in opponent's batting average, second in the region and 13th in the nation in strikeouts, first in region and 10th in the nation in WHIP, and third in the region and 15th in the nation in walks per nine innings.
Walker O'Connor: The 2014 GSC Freshman of the Year is having a dominant sophomore season. He tied for first in the conference in ERA (1.91), sixth in walks per nine innings (1.75) and 12th in WHIP (1.24). Last season, he pitched the fourth game of the tournament, picking up the win after allowing four runs in six innings against VSU.
Jarrod Petree: The 2015 All-GSC Second Team honoree has been one of UWF's most reliable starters, starting every weekend for UWF. He tied with Nagem for first in the conference and fourth in the nation with 13 starts. Petree ranked seventh in the GSC in walks per nine innings (1.79), 10th in ERA (3.31), 13th in innings pitched (65.1) and 14th in strikeouts (55).
Reed Bright: As a multi-purpose pitcher who started two games, was used in long relief 10 times and recorded two saves, Bright led the South Region with a .198 opponent's batting average, finished second in the conference and fifth in the region in ERA (2.22) and finished third in the region in WHIP (1.07).
Ronnie May: As UWF's closer for the majority of the season, May has the lowest ERA (1.69) on the UWF pitching staff. He's tied for third in the conference and fifth in the region with seven saves. He's recorded multiple saves on the same day twice this year, during the first series of the season against Florida Southern and the last series of the season against Delta State.
