LIVE STATS
 
ROME, Ga. – The University of West Florida baseball team continues Gulf South Conference play with a three-game road series against Shorter. UWF (24-19, 15-12 GSC) and SU (20-21, 9-18 GSC) will begin play with a doubleheader on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. ET, before wrapping up on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET.
 
Projected Starting Pitchers
Saturday G1: JT Granat (2-5, 4.58 ERA) vs. Jacob Ramos (4-3, 4.81 ERA)
Saturday G2: Brian Browning (3-2, 2.60 ERA) vs. Jerry Liang (3-1, 4.47 ERA)
Sunday: Jared Gonzalez (3-0, 3.46 ERA) vs. Tyler Buchanan (2-3, 6.48 ERA)
 
Dominance Against Shorter
West Florida is a perfect 13-0 in the all-time series against Shorter and have outscored the Hawks 81-15 since 2013… In the all-time series, UWF owns a .308 batting average while holding Shorter to a .157 average… Robert Lopez was the star of last year's series, going 6-for-10 with three home runs and nine RBI to earn GSC Player of the Week and NCBWA South Region Hitter of the Week honors… In his career, Jarrod Petree has not allowed a run over 10.2 career innings against the Hawks and has allowed just three hits while striking out 13 over that span… Walker O'Connor is a perfect 2-0 with a career 1.50 ERA against the Hawks… Nic Strasser is a .391 hitter against Shorter with two home runs and 11 RBI, while Nick Kerkmann is hitting .421 with a home run and six RBI against the Hawks in his career.

Scouting Shorter
Even with two GSC series remaining for the Hawks, Shorter has already matched its GSC win total from last year with a 9-18 league mark in 2017… Shorter enters the contest having dropped six of its last seven… Bailey Gerstner leads the team with a .412 batting average, while Blaze Vazquez has a team-high seven home runs and Jack Leech leads the Hawks with 41 RBI.

Tough Stretch
West Florida recently wrapped up the toughest part of its 2017 schedule, having to play seven games against nationally ranked teams in an eight game span… West Florida suffered a six-game home losing streak during that stretch, giving UWF its first streak of that length since 2008… UWF snapped a six-game losing streak with an 11-4 win against defending Peach Belt Conference champions Columbus State on Wednesday, ending the team's longest losing streak since the program endured a seven-game losing streak in 2008… Despite the rough stretch over the team's last 10 games, Robert Lopez is hitting .364 and Nick Kerkmann his hitting .310, while Brian Browning (2.70 ERA, 6.2 IP) and Steve McClellan (2.79 ERA, 9.2 IP) as all four have all been bright spots for the Argos.

Halstead Heating Up
Despite a tough stretch for UWF over its last 17 games, a positive has been Tanner Halstead, who is hitting .327 over that span… Halstead has played in 15 of those 17 games and has recorded a hit in 11 of them, and at least one RBI in eight of those games… The Pensacola Catholic HS product also leads the team with a .325 batting average in the month of April… Through the team's first 26 games, Halstead was hitting just .087 on the year, but his recent success has allowed him to nearly triple his batting average as the senior backstop owns a .239 average on the season.

Chase Kiefer Stole A Record
Redshirt senior Chase Kiefer stole his program-best 78th stolen base in the series opener against Union on April 1, solidifying his spot atop the UWF career stolen base leaders... Kiefer enters the Delta State series with 82 career stolen bases and has only been thrown out 11 times in his career... His .892 stolen base percentage is fourth best among UWF career leaders... Kiefer is now one stolen base away from being tied for 10th in the GSC leaders... Kiefer is currently second in the GSC and fifth in the country with 25 stolen bases in 2017.
 
GSC CAREER STOLEN BASES
150-Cedric Landrum, North Alabama 1982-85
109-James Barksdale, North Alabama 2004-06
103-Skyler Stromsmoe, Southern Arkansas 2005-07
98-Churchill Moore, Tennessee-Martin 1986-87
95-Justin Durmon, Southern Arkansas 1998-01
92-Blake Lockwood, Ouachita Baptist 2006-09
88-Denny Paganelli, North Alabama 1997-00
87-Rob Dahlberg, West Alabama 2006-09
83-Billy Terrell, North Alabama 1986-89
83-Eric Moore, Montevallo 2007-08
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82-Chase Kiefer, West Florida 2013-present