FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University baseball team will play host to the Tuskegee Golden Tigers this weekend, beginning on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. and concluding with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
The Sharks will take the field for the first time since February 10th, after a bye-week last weekend and a mid-week wash out against St. Thomas that has been rescheduled for April 5th. The Sharks' eight-day stretch without a game has allowed the team to regroup and get healthy for the road ahead of them, featuring a series on every weekend through May 8th.
Potential Pitching Matchups FridayNSU:
Alex Mateo – 0-1, 2 GS, 11.0 IP, 4.91 ERA, 11 K, 2 BB, 15 H
TU: Trey Nelson – 0-1, 2 GS, 11.1 IP, 3.18 ERA, 9 K, 3 BB, 11 H
Saturday – Game 1NSU:
Matt Hardy – 1-0, 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 3.00 ERA, 3 K, 3 BB, 5 H
TU: Daniel Croom – 1-0, 0 GS, 2.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 K, 1 BB, 0 H
Saturday – Game 2NSU:
Jonny Ortiz – 0-0, 2 GS, 11.0 IP, 5.73 ERA, 6 K, 8 BB, 13 H
TU: Joseph Mauldin – 1-1, 1 GS, 11.0 IP, 4.09 ERA, 9 K, 4 BB, 13 H
#MaxFacts- Dylan Woods is the sixth player since 2001 to get a hit in each of the team's first eight games and the first since current esteemed Athletics staff member Brooks Fleming started the 2014 season with a nine-game hitting streak.
- The other four, by longest streak: Bryan Needle, 14 games in 2001; current San Diego Padres prospect Carlos Asuaje, 13 games in 2011; Luis Penate, 9 games in 2010; Chris Reynolds, 8 games in 2007.
- Antonio Rodriguez's 12 walks are the most by a single player through the first eight games of the season dating back to 2001. The previous record was 9, set by both Mario Urdaneta and Roche Woodard just last season.
- Rodriguez drew 16 walks all of last season and didn't reach 12 until the 32nd game of the season, on March 30th. At his current pace this season, he will match and surpass that total in game two of Saturday's doubleheader. He is on pace for 75 walks this season, which would break Chris Todd's 25-year-old single-season record by 20 walks. Rodriguez also has three multi-walk games this season, the same total he had all of 2015.
- Andres Visbal has eight walks already this season, one year after his total of 38 was fourth in the program's NCAA era. Last season, his eighth walk of the year came when he drew four of them in four plate appearances against Albany State on February 26, in the 13th game of the season. As a freshman in 2014, Visbal didn't have eight walks until March 15th, the 23rd game of the year.
- Cameron Churchill is 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA in 8.1 innings pitched this season, all out of the bullpen. He's the third pitcher to win in relief twice in the first eight games of the season since 2001, following Vinnie Contaldi in 2012 and Dustin Heath in 2001.
- Churchill also has the sixth-most innings and eighth-lowest ERA by a reliever since 2001 and is second in both by relief pitchers with at least one inning per game, after Nick Carris, who had a 1.04 ERA in 8.2 innings in 2008. He is currently on pace for 52 innings between 25 appearances with 12.5 wins.
- The Tuskegee Golden Tigers come into this series with a 2-5 record. They split doubleheaders with Morehouse College and Selma University to start the season, but were swept out of Huntsville, Ala. last weekend, the Chargers outscoring them 44-8 in the three-game series.
- Their leading producer on offense so far this season is Elgin Woodside, a .481 hitter who has scored eight times, with 3 doubles and 2 homers, for an .815 slugging percentage.
- Expect to see Trey Nelson on the mound. He has a 3.18 ERA in 2 starts, spanning 11.1 innings, with 9 strikeouts and a .239 opponent batting average.
You can follow along with the Sharks all weekend on twitter at @NSU_Baseball and with NSU's video and live stats
link.
