The baseball and softball teams at the University of North Florida are wrapping up their fall practices and it will soon be time for them to begin real competition. Both stickball teams will play a number of exhibition games in the next couple months. 

The Osprey softball team will play a total of eight games this fall with two of the matchups in a doubleheader style and four contests that are 10-innings in length. Teams that North Florida will be playing include lower-division schools such as St. Johns River State College, College of Central Florida and Santa Fe College. 

There are still some notable matchups during this fall schedule, however. The Ospreys will host the University of Central Florida on Oct. 22 at the UNF Softball Complex. Then, for their final game of the fall, the team will travel to Tallahassee to face Florida State University on Nov. 10.

Central Florida and Florida State both made the NCAA Softball Tournament last season, hopefully giving the Ospreys enough experience against high-caliber teams before they begin the official season next spring. 

The baseball team’s fall slate is much more condensed. The Ospreys will play two games this fall under new head coach Joe Mercadante, with both contests taking place at Harmon Stadium. North Florida will host Charleston Southern on Oct. 21 and Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 11. 

Admission to all exhibition games is free. Regular season schedules for both teams have yet to be introduced. Full exhibition schedules for both programs can be found on the UNF Athletics Website. 

More information on North Florida softball and baseball can be found here. 

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