Full Release and Game Notes in PDF Format
Live Video/Stats
 
April 22, 2016
 
PENSACOLA, Fla.  –  The University of West Florida baseball team will host the Shorter University Hawks for a three-game Gulf South Conference series beginning on Saturday. It will be Senior Weekend at Jim Spooner Field, and festivities for the Class of 2016 will begin 10 minutes prior to the start of Game 1 on Saturday. Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. start, while Sunday's finale is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start.
 
ONE LAST RIDE: Before the game on Saturday, UWF baseball will honor nine seniors for a pregame ceremony as part of Senior Weekend at Jim Spooner Field... These seniors include, relief pitcher Josh McLaney, starting pitcher Brandon Nagem, outfielder Jean Figueroa, shortstop Alex Greene, relief pitcher Sean Kennedy, catcher Kyle Hamner, outfielder Brandon Tyler, infielder Jimmy Redovian and catcher Ben Emery.
 
Josh McLaney: A 2014 All-GSC Second Team selection, McLaney will soon end his final season with the Argonauts after spending the previous five years with the team... During his senior year, McLaney has not allowed an earned run over eight appearances... McLaney currently has a .217 opponent's batting average heading into the tail end of the season... The Laurel Hills, Florida native currently stands third in program history with 50 career relief appearances... Studying building construction at UWF.
 
Brandon Nagem: Nagem had one of the most dominant seasons in program history in 2015, being named GSC Pitcher of the Year and South Region Pitcher of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Assocation... Also named a NCBWA All-American Honorable Mention... Sits 11th in program history with 146 career strikeouts and leads the 2016 team with 56 strikeouts... Studying general business at UWF.
 
Jean Figueroa: Figueroa has been UWF's primary power threat in the 2016 season, leading the team with six home runs and a .494 slugging percentage... Was named GSC Player of the Week earlier this season after going 9-for-18 with three home runs, nine RBI and two doubles in a series against Christian Brothers... Became first player since 2012 to record six RBI in a single game... Studying sport management at UWF.
 
Alex Greene: Greene has been a mainstay both at shortstop and at the plate for the Argonauts... After redshirting in 2012, Greene has started at least half of the team's games every year since his freshman campaign... Greene was the lone Argonaut to start all 48 games in 2015... Greene is third in program history with 456 career assists... Owns 131 hits in 132 career starts and a .309 career batting average... Greene will be a contender for a Gold Glove award this season, as the Orlando native has only committed four errors out of 147 chances in 2016... Studying exercise science at UWF.
 
Sean Kennedy: Kennedy joined one of the nation's top pitching staffs prior to the 2016 season after spending three years with Virginia Tech... In a left-handed specialist role Kennedy has thrived, as he leads the team with a 10.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio... Out of 15 appearances in 2016, Kennedy has held opponents scoreless in 10 of them... Studying psychology at UWF.
 
Kyle Hamner: Hamner has been one of the conference's top backstops for the past two seasons and has emerged as an offensive leader for the Argonauts in 2016... His .361 batting average ranks second on the team, while his 2016 season also featured a 22-game hitting streak, the second longest in program history... Hamner is currently ranked as the toughest player to strikeout in the nation, only having two strikeouts in 141 plate appearances... Named to the 2015 ABCA South Region Gold Glove Team and has thrown out 39% of would-be base stealers in his career... Studying sport management at UWF.
 
Brandon Tyler: Tyler will soon wrap up his fifth-year senior season, having served as an outfielder and designated hitter for the Argonauts... As a sophomore, Tyler led bench players with a .351 batting average... In his 2016 senior campaign, Tyler hit a walk off single on March 9 against Spring Hill to seal a 6-5 extra-inning victory... Studying accounting at UWF.
 
Jimmy Redovian: Redovian has been a key part of the UWF lineup the past two seasons and in 2016, has especially come up in clutch situations as the senior leads the team with five game-winning RBI... He had a walk-off home run against Stillman on March 9, before hitting the game-winning RBI in back-to-back games against a No. 9-ranked Alabama Huntsville squad... The Franklin, Tennessee native is batting .341 in conference action this year... Studying sport management at UWF.
 
Ben Emery: Emery has recorded a .326 career batting average during his two-year stint with the Argonauts... He leads all bench players with a .423 batting average in 2016... UWF is a perfect 7-0 when Emery starts at designated hitter... Earlier this season, Emery had a six-game stretch where he hit .429 with five RBI and two doubles... Studying general business with minors in finance and marketing.
 
VIEW FROM THE TOP: After winning the battle for first place at Delta State last weekend, UWF controls its own destiny to secure the Gulf South Conference Regular Season championship... UWF sits on top a very clustered top half of the standings, leading Delta State and West Alabama by one game and leading West Georgia and Alabama Huntsville by two games... It appears Lee and Valdosta State will battle for the final spot in the GSC Tournament, as the Flames and Blazers sit three games and four games back, respectively.
 
THE ROAD AHEAD: West Florida will wrap up its GSC schedule with a home series against Shorter and a road series against Lee... Those two teams have combined for a 22-30 record in GSC play this year... UWF will throw in a midweek game at Spring Hill on Tuesday for some non-conference action.
 
RANKINGS UPDATE: West Florida saw its highest ranking of the season in the weekly NCBWA national rankings on Wednesday, as the team sits pretty at No. 11... the NCBWA has UWF at No. 2 in the South Region, sitting behind only defending National Champions Tampa... Collegiate Baseball had UWF move up one spot to No. 22... Perfect Game kept UWF at No. 10 in NCAA Division II in their weekly update on Wednesday... UWF broke into D2 Baseball News' rankings for the first time this season at No. 26... The NCAA's first regional rankings will be released next Wednesday to paint a picture of where the Argos stand amongst South Region competition nearing postseason play
KEEPING IT ROLLING: UWF has won all nine of its GSC series in 2016 and have a streak of 10 consecutive conference series wins dating back to 2015... UWF will attempt to be the first team in the GSC since Delta State in 2014 to win all GSC series for an entire season... The last time UWF won all of its GSC series in a season was 2011, the same season the team captured the NCAA Division II National Championship.
 
SOUTH REGION STAT LEADERS: West Florida's 2.86 team ERA is the best in the South Region... UWF's .967 fielding percentage is third best in the region... UWF's 35 sacrifice bunts in 2016 is the fourth most in the South Region... UWF's six shutouts is tied for the most in the region with West Alabama and Union... UWF's 4.03 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the best in the region... UWF's 1.21 WHIP is tied for the best in the South Region with West Alabama... West Florida's 1.96 walks allowed per nine innings is the best in the region...  JT Granat's 2.55 ERA is the third best in the South Region... Steve McClellan's six saves is tied for the most in the region... Walker O'Connor's 5.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the fourth best in the South Region... Granat's 1.15 WHIP is the fourth best in the region... Walker O'Connor's 1.31 walks per nine innings is the best average in the South Region.
 
NATIONAL STAT LEADERS: West Florida's 2.86 team ERA is the 9th best in the country... UWF's 4.03 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the second best in NCAA Division II, only trailing Franklin Pierce (4.16)... UWF's 1.21 WHIP is the 12th best in the nation... West Florida's 1.96 walks allowed per nine innings is the second best average in the country, only trailing Point Loma (1.90)... Steve McClellan is 30th in NCAA Division II with six saves... Kyle Hamner is ranked as the toughest player to strikeout in DII, only having a strikeout per 66.5 at bats... Walker O'Connor's 1.31 walks per nine inning is the 30th best average in the country.
 
SCOUTING SHORTER: Shorter enters the series riding a seven-game losing streak... SU is 6-21 in GSC play and 13-29 overall in 2016... Shorter is batting .240 as a team while the pitching staff owns a 6.51 team ERA... Dustin Lawson leads the team with a .414 batting average, while Blaze Vasquez leads the Hawks with 10 home runs and 30 RBI.
 
SERIES HISTORY: UWF has never lost to Shorter in the 10 games the teams have played... In those 10 games, UWF has outscored Shorter 61-10... Six of UWF's 10 wins against the Hawks have come in shutout fashion.
 
LAST TIME OUT: In last year's three-game sweep of the Hawks, UWF did not allow SU to score for the entire series and outscored Shorter 16-0 in the series... Last year, Brandon Nagem threw a nine-inning, complete game shutout against the Hawks... Nagem only allowed five hits while striking out a career-high 11... In that series opener, Nick Kerkmann went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored... Alex Greene and Kyle Hamner each posted two RBI... In Game 2, Jarrod Petree threw a complete game two-hitter against the Hawks with seven strikeouts... Alex Greene had a 3-for-4 game while Nic Strasser had a 2-for-4 showing... In the series finale, Walker O'Connor tossed five innings of shutout baseball and only allowed four hits... Chase Kiefer, Nic Strasser, Nick Kerkmann and Jimmy Redovian each had an RBI in the series-ending victory.
 
Projected Starting Pitcher Matchups                                         
 
Saturday G1
SU: Jacob Farmer -- 2-6, 6.64 ERA, 40.2 IP, 54 H, 30 ER, 29 BB, 41 K, .312 B/AVG
UWF: Walker O'Connor – 7-2, 3.50 ERA, 61.2 IP, 70 H, 24 ER, 9 BB, 45 K, .286 B/AVG
Saturday G2
SU: Tyler Cates -- 1-3, 8.31 ERA, 30.1 IP, 35 H, 28 ER, 16 BB, 14 K, .289 B/AVG
UWF: Troy Brown – 0-2, 2.66 ERA, 23.2 IP, 17 H, 7 ER, 8 BB, 23 K, .189 B/AVG
Sunday
SU: Nate Bock -- 0-1, 8.31 ERA, 4.1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, .235 B/AVG
UWF: JT Granat – 7-3, 2.55 ERA, 60 IP, 55 H, 17 ER, 14 BB, 45 K, .251 B/AVG