\n Story Links
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. \u2013 The Dolphins will cross state lines to Birmingham, Alabama this weekend for a three-game series against the UAB Blazers. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET on Friday, with 2\u00a0p.m. ET\u00a0starts set for Saturday and Sunday. All three games will take place at Young Memorial Field, and will be streamed on ESPN+<\/a>.<\/p>\n The weekend marks the first meeting between the programs since 1991, when the two were Sun Belt foes. Jacksonville leads the all-time series 5-4. It will be the first meeting ever played in Birmingham.<\/p>\n Jacksonville enters the weekend at 8-1, its best start since 2008 and the strongest start of Head Coach Chris Hayes<\/a>‘\u00a0 JU tenure.<\/p>\n The Dolphins opened the season with back-to-back four-game sweeps of Rhode Island and LIU, with their lone loss coming in a midweek matchup against No. 13 Florida State.<\/p>\n JU enters the series ranked 15th nationally in winning percentage (.889).<\/p>\n National Offensive Presence<\/p>\n Through nine games, the Dolphins have been one of the most productive offenses in the country.<\/p>\n As of Wednesday, February 25th, JU ranks:
\n<\/p>\n
Derek Bermudez<\/a> has been the catalyst in the middle of the lineup, leading the nation with 21 RBIs. The junior also ranks among national leaders in hits and total bases.<\/p>\n Freshman Cade Walter<\/a> has provided an immediate impact in the lead-off spot, ranking second nationally among freshmen with four home runs. He leads the team in runs scored (13) and walks (7).<\/p>\n Jonah Shields<\/a> enters the weekend on a six-game hitting streak and has recorded a hit in eight of nine games played. He looks to continue his consistency at the plate.<\/p>\n Pitching Matchups<\/p>\n Friday’s opener features one of the top ERAs in the country as senior left-hander Alex Walsh<\/a> (2-0, 0.96 ERA) takes the ball. Walsh has allowed just six hits in 9.1 innings this season.<\/p>\n Saturday will see right-hander Payton Waters<\/a> (0-0, 3.60 ERA) make his start, while graduate left-hander Brendan Holland<\/a> (1-0, 1.86 ERA) is slated for Sunday. Holland has struck out 10 in two starts while allowing just two earned runs.<\/p>\n Scouting UAB<\/p>\n UAB enters the weekend at 5-4, closing out an eight-game homestand. The Blazers opened the season with a 9-7 win over then-No. 13 Florida and also run-ruled North Alabama, 15-3.<\/p>\n Offensively, UAB leads the American Conference in home runs (14) and ranks second in stolen bases (19). Andrew Hunt leads the team with a .440 average and is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak.<\/p>\n The Blazers are 5-0 this season when scoring eight or more runs.<\/p>\n Next Up<\/p>\n Jacksonville will travel to Tallahassee on Tuesday, March 3 for its second matchup of the season against Florida State.
\n\t9th nationally in runs scored (89)
\n\t5th in hits (98)
\n\t14th in batting average (.348)
\n\t12th in on-base percentage (.472)
\n\t21st in slugging percentage (.560)
<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Story Links
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. \u2013 The Dolphins will cross state lines to Birmingham, Alabama this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-171728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}