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PENSACOLA, Fla. – The 20th-ranked UWF baseball team continues Gulf South Conference competition this weekend, traveling to Montevallo, Alabama on Friday and Saturday for a 3-game series against the Montevallo Falcons. Play begins at Kermit A. Johnson Field at Bob Riesener Stadium at 5:00 p.m. on Friday and at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday for a doubleheader.
ABOUT THE ARGONAUTS
* UWF is 17-10 following last week's series win over Auburn Montgomery in Pensacola.
* The Argonauts are 12-3 and continue to lead the GSC with an .800 winning pct. UWF has been in first place since sweeping West Georgia to open the league schedule. The Argos are 5-1 in GSC road games.
* UWF is hitting .267 (177th in the NCAA) as a team and has 72 extra base hits (50 2B, 5 3B, 17 HR). The pitching staff has compiled a 4.08 ERA (3rd GSC, 31st nationally) and held opponents to a .250 batting average. The team's 3.34 Walks Allowed per Nine IP is 28th in the NCAA and is second in the GSC.
* In the field, UWF has a .978 fielding pct. to rank fourth in the country and has turned 20 double plays to rank 41st nationally.
* On the base paths, the Argonauts are 46-for-56 in stolen base attempts.
Chris Johnson (12-for-12) and
Trent Jeffcoat (17-for-18) lead the team.
ABOUT MONTEVALLO
* UM is 23-8 this season after a 13-4 win over Spring Hill on Wednesday. The Falcons are in fourth place in the GSC at 8-6. They have won their last three GSC series over Christian Brothers, Union and Shorter, after opening the league slate at 1-4 with losses to Delta State and Valdosta State – the second and third place teams.
* The Falcons have the top offense in the GSC, ranking second with a .302 batting avg. and first with 70 doubles, 9 triples, 46 HR, 240 RBI, .527 slugging pct., 161 walks, 65 hit batters, and a .426 on-base pct.
* UM also leads the league with a 3.48 ERA, 290 strikeouts – 9.4 per game and a .244 opponent batting avg. The probably rotation is Gino Cozzi (4-2, 3.65), JJ Pease (4-2, 4.06) and Trey Felker (2-1, 4.78) – all three are RHP.
* The Falcons are fourth in the GSC with a .968 fielding pct. and have 17 double plays and 12 passed balls.
UWF-UM SERIES HISTORY
* UWF leads the series 36-28 dating back to 1995 and has won three of the four series since the UM rejoined the GSC in 2016.
ARGOS TO PLAY 9 OF NEXT 12 ON THE ROAD
* This weekend's trip to Montevallo opens a 5-game road swing which is part of a stretch where UWF will play nine of its next 12 on the road.
* Those road contests include two midweek games at North Georgia (20-11) on Tuesday/Wednesday next week before coming home to face Alabama Huntsville (12-19). The following week the Argonauts will travel to Delta State (16-9) on Friday/Saturday of Easter Weekend before a scheduled contest at Spring Hill (16-10) on April 19.
* UWF is 5-4 on the road this season and 5-1 against GSC teams away from home.
ARGOS RETURN TO TOP 25
* UWF is ranked No. 20 in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division II Top 25. It is a return to the rankings after a one-week drop following the 1-2 week against Embry-Riddle two weeks ago.
* In the Collegiate Baseball poll, UWF is the 12th team among the others receiving votes.
NCBWA SOUTH REGION TEAMS
1. Tampa
9. Rollins
20 UWF
25. Valdosta State
WINNING WITH PITCHING AND DEFENSE
*
Mike Jeffcoat's teams have hung their hats on pitching and defense in his 17 seasons and 2022 is much the same. The team's pitch-to-contact style benefits the strong defense as they are fourth in the NCAA with a .978 fielding pct. and 31st with a 4.08 earned run average. The Argonauts have held opponents to a .259 batting average. The team's 3.34 Walks Allowed per Nine IP is 28th in the NCAA and is second in the GSC.
UWF'S RECORD WHEN…
* 15-1 when scoring 5 or more runs.
* 12-5 when allowing 5 or fewer runs.
* 15-0 when leading after four innings.
* 10-0 when it outhits the opponent.
* 9-2 when it hits at least 1 home run.
SPOON BALL ALIVE AND WELL
* Some baseball experts call it small ball but at UWF we have Spoon Ball. The Argonauts will not wow you with power but
Mike Jeffcoat's teams are consistently good base runners, bunt well, and have very strong pitching and defense. 2022 is no exception early on as 157 of the team's 229 hits (68.6%) are singles and they are bunting at a .583 clip (14-for-24) with 28 sacrifices (4th in the NCAA).
SERIES BUSINESS
* The Argonauts have won 32 of their last 39 3-game series over the past 3-plus seasons.
* Of the seven series they have lost, two are to Florida Southern (2019 & 2020), two at Rollins (2019 & 2022), one to Shorter (2021), one to Lee (2019) and one to Embry-Riddle (2022).
* In GSC 3-game series, UWF is 29-2 over that time, leading the conference in series wins.
TRENT THE TABLE SETTER… OR DO YOU PREFER MAITRE D'?
* UWF sophomore transfer
Trent Jeffcoat has been the team's leadoff man all season and leads the team with a .364 batting average. He paces the squad with 28 runs, 39 hits (9 via bunt), a .457 on-base pct. and 17 steals.
* But what's even more impressive is his .523 avg. (23-for-44) when leading off an inning. Additionally, he has a .416 on-base pct. to start the game. He has reached base 11 times out of 27 games to get things started for UWF. And of those 11 times reaching base, he has scored in nine of them. He is hitting .333 to start games (8-of-24) with three of walks.
O'SHEA NAMED GSC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK
* UWF first baseman
Cullan O'Shea was named the Gulf South Conference's Co-Player of the Week on Tuesday.
* O'Shea hit .538 with four RBI and scored three times in four games last week. He finished with seven hits, four doubles and a home run for a 1.077 slugging pct. He also walked six times and did not strike out in 19 plate appearances. O'Shea had at least one double in each of the three games against Auburn Montgomery and finished the series with a .636 avg. and 1.273 slugging pct.
* He was a big part of the team's 3-1 week that started with an extra-inning win at Blue Wahoos Stadium and ended with a series victory over Auburn Montgomery at Jim Spooner Field.
* The senior from Mobile, Alabama is hitting .337 and leads the team with 12 doubles, four home runs, 24 RBI, 23 walks and eight hit by pitches. In GSC play, he has a .407 batting average to rank seventh in the league.
STREAKS & STUFF
*
Alden Davis and
Trent Jeffcoat each bring a 4-game hitting streak into the weekend, while
Cullan O'Shea has a 3-game streak. The season-long is 9 games by
Trent Jeffcoat to open the season.
*
Trent Jeffcoat has reached base in all 27 games this season.
Alden Davis had his stretch reach 14 games before it was snapped against Embry-Riddle two weeks ago. O'Shea has a season-best 11-game reached base stretch in progress.
* Jeffcoat has a team-high 10 multi-hit games, followed by
Cullan O'Shea with nine, and
Preston Moore and
Alden Davis with six multi-hit performances each.
SCORING WITH 2 OUTS
* UWF has 154 RBI this season and 71 have come with 2 outs. The team is hitting .282 with 2 outs.
*
Cullan O'Shea has 11 of his team-high 24 RBI with 2 outs on a .407 avg.
DOUBLE YOUR TROUBLE
* With GSC play ongoing, that means doubleheaders will dominate much of the season. The Argos will play 11 doubleheaders throughout the season.
* Over the last four seasons (2019-present), UWF has played 32 DHs, sweeping 16, splitting 13 and being swept just three times. UWF has not lost a DH in 29 of the last 32 DHs.
* In the last seven seasons, UWF has gone an entire season without being swept four times and has never been swept more than they have swept an opponent.
UWF TABBED FIRST IN GSC PRESEASON POLL
* UWF was picked to finish first in the 2022 Gulf South Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. This is the second-consecutive year the Argonauts were picked first and the sixth time in the last 11 seasons.
* In a balanced top-half of the poll, UWF received five of 12 possible first place votes and a total of 136 polling points.
* Delta State and Lee each had three first place votes and were second and third, respectively. Alabama Huntsville in fourth and Valdosta State in fifth had the remaining two first place votes and were in a near dead heat with just one point apart.
* Shorter was voted sixth with West Georgia in seventh. The bottom half of the standings included Mississippi College, Auburn Montgomery, Montevallo, West Alabama, Union and Christian Brothers.
