By: Josh Brannock, Sports Editor

UNF baseball will try to regain its footing after dropping two of its first three games of the season to Southern Illinois University.

The Ospreys will hit the road after hosting the three-game series. They start their run to right the ship with a one-game series in Tampa against the University of South Florida Feb. 22. After the short series, the team will go to Jacksonville, Ala., to square off against Jacksonville State in a three-game series Feb. 24-26.

In the Ospreys’ opening series against the Salukis, the Ospreys’ pitching struggled in the two losses.

In the first game Feb. 17, UNF came away with a 7-4 win. The team started off strong, scoring three runs in the first two innings. The Salukis came back and tied the game at three in the fifth inning, but UNF managed to heat up and score four more runs in the final three innings to come away with the win.

The next day, UNF’s bats fell silent as the team lost to SIU 4-2. The Ospreys only managed to get eight hits in the game and left nine runners on base.

In the last game of the series Feb. 19, the bats awoke, but SIU’s 16 runs were no match for the Ospreys as they lost 16-12. UNF made multiple comeback attempts, but with a seven-run eighth inning by the Salukis, the team fell just short.

Rightfielder Tyler Marincov went 4-15 on the weekend and had three RBIs in the third game of the series. Marincov scored four runs, at least one in each game of the series.

Pitching-wise, the Ospreys went through seven pitchers Feb. 19, including shortstop Andrew Karmeris, who went two-thirds of an inning and gave up no runs. The only pitcher other than Karmeris who did not give up a run in the game was Chandle Jagodzinski.

UNF’s first chance to break the two game losing skid will be against the 3-0 Bulls. USF has beaten Ohio State University, Michigan State University and the University of Minnesota.

Email Josh Brannock at sports@unfspinnaker.com.
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