NASHVILLE, Tenn. - This weekend marks the first Atlantic Sun Conference home games for the Belmont baseball team (28-17, 12-6) since sweeping USC Upstate in early April. The Bruins, who are currently second in the conference standings, host North Florida (26-19, 7-11) in a three-game series beginning Friday at 5:00 p.m.
North Florida comes to Nashville with an overall record of 26-19, but the Ospreys are only 11-11 on the road. UNF recently split a pair of non-conference contests with The Citadel, and lost two out of three games as hosts to Stetson in A-Sun Conference play last weekend.
The Ospreys are batting .280 as a team, as Tyler Marincov leads with a .353 average. The sophomore also leads the squad with eight home runs and has added 10 doubles and two triples. Kyle Westwood, who is scheduled to start Saturday's contest, has been solid on the mound, recording a 2.83 ERA with two complete games and 62 strikeouts.
Due to Florida Gulf Coast's sweep of Kennesaw State during Belmont's weekend off, the Bruins are now by themselves in second place in the league standings with a mark of 12-6. BU's pitching staff was once again superb on Wednesday night, allowing just one unearned run to improve the team ERA to 3.29.
Belmont is 8-9 against North Florida in the all-time series, but the Ospreys swept the Bruins in a three-game series in Jacksonville last season. BU will look to buck that recent trend this weekend.
All three contests will be featured on ASun.TV and the Bruins Sports Network. Live Stats will be available on BelmontBruins.com, and fans can also follow the action through the Belmont Baseball Twitter feed.
