PENSACOLA, Fla. --- Following five wins in six consecutive home games, the University of West Florida baseball team heads on the road for conference play and will take on Union in a three-game series in Jackson, Tenn.
 
All games will be played at Fesmire Baseball Park beginning with a doubleheader on Friday, Feb. 24 at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. and a game on Saturday, Feb. 25, time TBD.
 
About the Argonauts
UWF has won five of the last six home games and is 7-2 overall. They have taken series wins over Florida Southern, Rollins and Florida Tech along with a single game win against Spring Hill.
 
UWF faced Spring Hill last week (Feb. 14) and finished with an 8-3 win followed by winning the weekend series over Florida Tech 2-1. They defeated the Panthers in Friday's (Feb. 17) night game 16-2 and went 1-1 in the double header on Saturday (Feb. 18) … UWF lost the first game 2-0 off a ninth-inning homerun but came back in game two for a 9-0 shutout win.
 
UWF went 22-24 in 2022 and finished seventh in the Gulf South Conference at 15-13.
 
UWF Rises in the Rankings
The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) announced their second ranking of the season and the University of West Florida baseball team has risen to No. 17 in the national poll with a 7-2 overall record. UWF remains the 3-seed in the South Region behind Tampa (7-2) and Montevallo (9-1).
 
UWF was picked sixth in the Gulf South Conference Preseason Coaches Poll along with two preseason all-conference selections that was announced Jan. 26. The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper released their preseason top-40 and UWF was receiving votes among the list. The poll, voted on by the coaches of each of the eight NCAA Division II regions, features 40 teams during the preseason poll and necks down to 30 during the regular season.
 
A Look Back Against Florida Tech
Friday night, the Argos got a quick 4-1 in the first inning off a Jadon Fryman RBI and a McDowell three-run homer. The team scored in three frames as the seventh was a 10-run inning. 15 Argos stepped up to bat and eight different players scored – McDowell and Preston Moore finished with two runs in the inning. Fryman and McDowell led with three hits a piece and four others tallied for two hits. McDowell finished with a game high of five RBI and pitcher Dalton Neuschwander earned his second win.
 
The Argos and Panthers split the doubleheader on Saturday. After losing game one 2-0 in a ninth-inning homerun, UWF bounced back in game two and shutout the Panthers 9-0. They took a quick 5-0 lead after the first inning and scored two runs in the third and fourth frame to take the series win. DH Mark Townsend had two hits and four RBI followed by Mike Scordo with two hits and two RBI each. Pitcher Major Posey recorded his second win in his third appearance.
 
UWF's Weekend Rotation
This upcoming week, Dalton Neuschwander (2-0) will be the starting pitcher for game one on Friday. After a strong season opener performance against Florida Southern (Feb. 4), he received a no decision in the 3-2 loss but was named GSC and NCBWA South Region Pitcher of the Week.
 
Neuschwander earned his first win after a 7-inning performance to uplift the team in a 6-3 win over Rollins (Feb. 12). He tallied six strikeouts and allowed two runs on four hits. Most recently, he earned his second win after a 16-2 defeat over Florida Tech (Feb. 17). With just two runs occurring while he was on the mound, he finished with four strikeouts and allowed only four hits. In 22.0 total IP, he has a 0.82 ERA. The transfer from Coastal Alabama South had 15 appearances with nine starts with his previous team. He went 4-2 with two saves and a 5.84 ERA over 37 innings pitched.
 
Kade Mandersheid (1-0) will open game two on Friday. In his first two starts, he pitched 5.1 innings for each game. He earned the win after a close 2-1 score in opening weekend against Florida Southern (Feb. 5).
 
The following weekend against Rollins (Feb. 12), he finished with six strikeouts. His latest appearance versus Florida Tech (Feb. 17), he pitched in eight innings while allowing no runs on four hits in 29 batters faced. He currently has a 1.93 ERA. With Polk State last year, Mandersheid had 19 appearances last year and ended 5-3. In 44 innings pitched, he had 49 strikeouts and had a 3.27 ERA.
 
Starting pitcher for Saturday's will be Major Posey (2-0). Posey had a no-hitter in his intentional 2.0 IP against Spring Hill (Feb. 14). He was awarded a win after a 9-0 defeat over Florida Tech in game two of Saturday's doubleheader (Feb. 18). In 6.0 IP, he had a no-hitter through the first four frames and walked just two and has a current 2.25 ERA.
 
He began his career at UCF then played at Polk State last year. With them, he went 5-5 in 16 appearances and 12 starts. He ended the season with 56 strikeouts in 59.1 innings pitched.
 
Scouting Union Bulldogs
The Bulldogs are 5-6 overall and 1-2 in GSC under first-year head coach, Casey McGehee. They were voted to finish 12^th in the GSC Preseason Coaches Poll. Outfielder Grayson Swanson was named Preseason All-GSC and NCBWA Preseason All-South Region First Team.
 
The Bulldogs took on Shorter University (Feb. 17 and 18) in a three-game series to begin conference play. They won the first game 5-4 followed by two losses in the doubleheader.
 
The Bulldogs scored one run in the combined two games on Saturday (Feb. 18) that was scored by junior Mitch Sisk off a homerun.
 
Sisk has a .313 batting average on 10 hits, a triple, one homerun while earning 11 RBI.
 
Pitchers Sam Poindexter and Lane Evans have three games appearances and starts. In 21.2 IP, Williamson is 2-1 on the season with a 3.32 ERA. He totals for 20 strikeouts and has allowed 15 hits in 77 at bats. He has also recorded one complete game versus Shorter (Feb. 17) … Evans has tallied eight strikeouts in 12.2 IP and is 1-1 on the season. With a 4.97 ERA, his opponents hold a .250 batting average while he is on the mound.
 
Argo vs. Bulldog History
Since 2013, UWF is 19-5 and holds a 10-5 record in Tennessee. The last matchup was in 2021 for a three-game series with Argos taking the win 2-1 … UWF won the first two games 15-6 and 8-3 but lost the final game 13-8.
 
True Fontenot and Tyler Dowdy are the only returners for UWF who placed a start in the 2021 contests.