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JACKSON, Tenn. - The University of West Florida baseball team (20-10, 12-6) plays Union for a three-game Gulf South Conference series beginning with a Saturday doubleheader at 1:00 p.m. The Argos are scheduled to send Jarrod Petree, Trace Penton, and Jared Gonzalez to the hill for the set against the Bulldogs. The series will conclude with a single game at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.
APRIL FOOL'S DAY HISTORY: West Florida will be playing on April Fool's Day for the first time since 2012, when the Argos suffered a 9-3 setback against Delta State, who eventually went on to play for the NCAA Division II National Championship that year... UWF's last win on April Fool's Day came in 2009, when the Argos defeated North Georgia 5-4 in 10 innings... Prior to the 2012 setback, UWF had won five of their previous six April Fool's Day matchups.
LIFE IS GOOD FOR JARED/JARROD: West Florida's top three pitchers in terms of ERA are Jared Gonzalez (2.01), Jarrod Petree (2.82) and Jared Middleton (2.38)... The three "Jareds/Jarrods" have combined for a 9-1 record, a 2.46 ERA, a .241 opponent batting average, and 76 strikeouts against just 19 walks.
MAKE IT 10: West Florida currently rides a 10-game winning streak, the team's longest of the season and the longest active streak in the GSC... It is UWF's seventh winning streak of at least 10 games since 2011... West Florida has five players hitting north of .350 during the streak, including Brandon Harmon (.432), Ladeavon Matthews (.415), Nic Strasser (.414), Nick Kerkmann (.391) and Justin Ambrosino (.350)... The Argos are hitting .326 as a team over the last 10 games and own a 2.73 ERA... UWF opponents have been held to a .238 batting average and have been tagged for a 6.75 ERA over the run... UWF has outscored its opponents 86-34 during the win streak, owning an average margin of victory of over six runs per game... During the win streak, UWF's three primary bullpen arms, Brian Browning (.065 opp. avg.), Jared Middleton (.125) and JT Granat (.067) have combined for 22.1 scoreless innings over the last 10 games.
LONGEST WINNING STREAKS SINCE 2010
1. 22 games - 2011 (March 6 - April 16)
T2. 12 games - 2014 (February 9 - March 9)
T2. 12 games - 2016 (March 19 - April 9)
4. 11 games - 2013 (March 3 - March 19)
5. 10 games - 2017 (March 12 - present)
STEALING A RECORD: With 76 career stolen bases, Chase Kiefer is just one steal away from tying Greg Pron's career record of 77... Kiefer has stolen at least one base in 14 of 30 games this year and the team is 11-3 when he records a stolen base in the game... The team is also 4-0 when he steals multiple bases in one game... Kiefer tied his career-high with three stolen bases in series finale against CBU... Kiefer is also seven stolen bases shy of cracking the GSC's top 10 career stolen base leaders.
D2 BASEBALL NEWS NATIONAL RANKINGS: West Florida, who was a unanimous preseason top 25 selection, has climbed its way back into one national poll with D2 Baseball News ranking the Argonauts at No. 30... West Florida is also ranked No. 7 in the current National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association South Region poll.
BROOM SHOPPING (X2): West Florida completed a dominating three-game sweep of Christian Brothers on Monday, outscoring the Bucs 25-3 over the series and giving UWF its second consecutive GSC sweep... The UWF pitching staff posted a 0.72 ERA in the series and the offense hit .366 as a unit... The squad also recorded a .485 slugging percentage and a .440 on-base percentage... Defensively, UWF made just one error on the series for a .990 fielding percentage... Brandon Harmon (.583, 7-12, 4 RBI), Justin Ambrosino (.556, 5-9, 4 RBI), and Ladeavon Matthews (.500, 6-12, 1 HR, 3 RBI) led the offense with averages above .500... Six of seven UWF pitchers used in the series did not allow an earned run... The Argos have now won 15 in a row when playing CBU and have outscored the Bucs 134-29 in the 17 all-time meetings.
AMONG THE GSC'S BEST: West Florida currently owns the best fielding percentage (.965), ERA (3.52) and opponent batting average (.248) in the conference... UWF has also allowed the fewest walks and extra-base hits in the conference... Offensively, UWF is fourth in the league in both batting average (.299) and runs scored (199)... Brandon Harmon's .365 batting average is currently ninth-best in the GSC... Chase Kiefer is sixth in the GSC with 29 runs scored... Justin Ambrosino (42 hits) and Ladeavon Matthews (40 hits), are sixth and ninth, respectively, in the GSC in hits... Delta State is the only other club with multiple players in the conference's top 10 hits leaders... Ambrosino is also second in RBI, with 39, and tied for fourth with seven home runs this year... Kiefer and Harmon are second and sixth in the GSC with 19 and 11 steals, respectively... Jared Gonzalez (2.01), Jarrod Petree (2.82) and Jackson Smith (2.94) are third, eighth, and 10th in the GSC in ERA... UWF is the only team with three pitchers' inside the league's top 10 ERA leaders... Petree is also seventh in the conference with a .211 opponent batting average and ninth with 44.1 innings pitched... Smith is tied for third with five wins on the year and is one of just five pitchers in the conference with five or more wins this year... Among qualified pitchers (average 1 IP per team game played) no GSC pitcher has allowed fewer walks than Jared Gonzalez, who has allowed just two in 31.1 innings this year.
DOMINANCE AGAINST UNION: West Florida has swept every series against Union since 2014 for a nine-game winning streak when playing the Bulldogs... UWF is 14-1 all-time against Union, and have outscored the Bulldogs 77-17 over the last nine meetings.
FLYING HAWAIIANS: On road trips since its spring break trip to Embry-Riddle, UWF started wearing very festive Hawaiian shirts on the bus when traveling, and since that point, have won nine in a row and all five of its road games... West Florida owns a 10-3 road record, good for the second-best road winning percentage in the conference... As a team, UWF is slashing .310/.389/.427... Top performers on the road include Nick Kerkmann (.480), Chase Kiefer (.365) and Nic Strasser (.364).
FORMER ARGONAUTS SET FOR PRO BALL: Ledarious Clark (2015), Jordan DeLorenzo (2012-2014) and Brian Ellington (2012) are about to continue their professional careers in 2017... Clark, UWF's most recent draftee, hit .242 with a team-high 12 home runs and 34 RBI for the Hickory Crawdads (Texas Rangers - A)... Clark also finished third on the team with 25 stolen bases... DeLorenzo posted a 2.90 ERA for the State College Spikes (St. Louis Cardinals - Short-Season A) in 2016... DeLorenzo collected 38 strikeouts in 31 innings last year... Ellington, who has jumped between AAA and the majors with the Miami Marlins over the past two seasons, owns a 2.64 ERA in the big leagues over 58 innings pitched in his career.
AMBRO'S CURRENT PACE: Over the past five seasons UWF has averaged 51 games played per season, and if UWF is to meet that average in 2017, senior first baseman Justin Ambrosino is on pace for one of the best offensive seasons in UWF history... With seven home runs and 39 RBI through 30 games, Ambrosino is on pace for 12 home runs and 66 RBI... 12 home runs would be one shy of the single-season record, held by Brett Anderson (1992)... 66 RBI would be the second-most for a single season at UWF and three shy of Greg Pron's (2011) single season record of 69.
EIGHT IN A ROW VS. SPRING HILL: West Florida extended its winning streak when playing Spring Hill to eight after a 7-5 win against the Badgers on March 22... UWF has not lost to SHC since Feb. 11, 2015... Justin Ambrosino hit his seventh home run of the year and his third against Spring Hill in 2017 in the win... Colby Brown went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI at the plate, while Jackson Smith turned in a strong five-inning start with a season-high six strikeouts... UWF and Spring Hill wrap up the season series with a game in Pensacola on April 12.
