FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 21 Nova Southeastern baseball team (24-10, 8-7 SSC) is set to take on its highest-ranked opponent to date, the No. 5 Lynn Fighting Knights (29-8, 11-4 SSC) in a three-game conference series this weekend at the NSU Baseball Complex. The series begins Friday night at 6 p.m. and concludes with a doubleheader, beginning at 1 p.m., on Saturday.
These teams have been as evenly matched as you can get over the years, as the Sharks hold a narrow 49-45 record over the Knights in the all-time series between the two sides. Last season Lynn got the better of NSU, sweeping the Sharks at the NSU Baseball Complex in a three-game stint.
This will be the second-straight weekend the Sharks will be taking on a top-20 opponent in Sunshine State Conference play.
"Both clubs are built to be successful in the SSC as well as on the national level," said head coach Greg Brown. "This weekend's series is a great opportunity for our team to play well against another regional contender and will have a playoff type atmosphere on the field."
The Knights enter the series winning seven of their last 10 contests. Lynn took two of three from Florida Tech, Eckerd and Barry in their most recent SSC series. The Sharks enter the big showdown with the Fighting Knights, winning five of their last 10.
Lynn as a team leads the league in team pitching this season, posting a 2.72 ERA, and is second behind NSU in opponents' batting average, holding batters to a .245 average. Bill Mendek leads the staff in each of those categories, posting a 0.98 ERA and holding batters to just a .185 average in 36.2 innings pitched this season.
The Knights' Sal Giardina Jr. leads the team in batting average with a .369 mark, good for ninth in the SSC. Giardina is one of five hitters in the starting lineup that are batting over .300. The Sharks have six players in the lineup batting .300 or over.
This past weekend, the Sharks were swept for the first time this season, against the Florida Southern Moccasins in Lakeland, Fla. NSU lost a heartbreaker in the Friday night game, 7-6, in 12 innings. The game was back-and-forth as the Sharks took the lead on three separate occasions. The home team showed fight, battling back, before taking series opener. The Mocs took game two by an 8-1 score, before edging out the Sharks in the finale, 1-0, to take the series sweep.
For the video broadcast of the game,
Click Here. To follow along with the live stats,
Click Here. For live tweets of the game follow @NSU_Baseball.
For the latest NSU news and results, be sure to visit www.NSUSharks.com. To have results sent directly to your cell phone via text message, sign up for SMS text message delivery by clicking here. For the latest news, be sure to sign up for the Shark Alert E-newsletter by clicking here.
