FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Nova Southeastern and Tampa each know a thing or two about winning national championships. Together, the two programs have captured the last two NCAA Division II titles, and enter this weekend in yet another high-profile showdown with aspirations of bringing a third consecutive championship back to the Sunshine State Conference in 2017.
The Sharks fell out of the top spot for the first time this season in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) rankings, dipping to No. 7 after dropping two of the three on the road a week ago to newly top-ranked South Carolina-Aiken. However, head coach
Greg Brown's club has been a formidable bunch at home this season, compiling an 8-2 record. Most notably, the offense has averaged an impressive 11.0 runs per game in those contests – a full two runs per game more than what they've racked up away from the NSU Baseball Complex thus far in 2017.
Outfielder
Andrew Liberty has especially enjoyed the scenery in Fort Lauderdale this season. In six starts at home, Liberty has batted .522 with three home runs and 12 RBI's, while posting a 1.000 slugging percentage.
The redshirt-junior collected a pair of hits in Wednesday's ball game against Southern New Hampshire, combining with
Kevin Suarez and
Michael Hernandez to go 7-for-14 in the effort. Together, those three will be key this weekend in providing depth for a Nova Southeastern lineup that will be going up against the league's No. 2 pitching staff in terms of earned run average.
Roughly just six weeks into the season, Tampa newcomers Garrett Cave and David Lebron have already proven themselves to be arguably the best 1-2 combination of arms in the SSC. The pair of right-handers have three wins apiece under their belt, boast ERA's in the mid-three's and average well over 11 strikeouts per nine innings. As recently as last Saturday, Lebron tallied 13 K's in seven innings to lead the Spartans to a 12-1 victory over Saint Leo.
Meanwhile, Tampa's offense consists of a pair of players hitting above .400 for the year – most notably J.D. Osborne. Osborne joins Nova Southeastern's
Jancarlos Cintron and
Jeremy Vasquez in the thick of the early conversation for potential SSC Player of the Year candidates. The third baseman/catcher currently leads the conference in home runs (10) and RBI's (39), and has twice been named the NCBWA National Hitter of the Week.
NSU has beaten Tampa in five of the previous six meetings between both programs, earning a three-game sweep the last time the schools faced off in Fort Lauderdale in 2015.
Series Schedule (All Times Eastern)
Game One: Friday at 6 p.m.
Game Two: Saturday at 12 p.m.
Game Three: Saturday at 3 p.m.
For complete coverage of this weekend's action, log onto
NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_Baseball.
