Florida Sports Wire

By Jeff Moeller, Florida Sports Wire Ok, Jaguars’ fans, it’s safe to say that the 2026 football season is underway. Is it time to pick the wins and losses off the schedule? The pomp and circumstance of the overhyped schedule release show  usually serves as the unofficial kickoff. By the time the show aired, mostly everyone knew their team’s schedule due to the massive leaks. Yet, the more interesting part of the schedule release was each team’s own presentation dealing with a player or players doing something interesting with football. The Jags had Trevor Lawrence cutting his hair, but it was a well disguised prank as Lawrence wore a wig with his short-hair look. You can read into that as Lawrence and the Jags being pretty confident heading into the season. The Jags were relatively quiet in the draft, taking care of some needs in spite of some head-scratching picks. There is plenty of anticipation and speculation for the season ahead. It again will hinge on Lawrence to see if he ca...

ST. AUGUSTINE – Donna (Hicks) Cohen ’79, Sanford Dixson ’81, and Corey Mundy ‘15 were inducted as the 21st class of the Flagler College Athletics Hall of Fame Thursday night (May 14) at a banquet sponsored by Carrabba’s Italian Grill at the Virginia Room in the Ringhaver Student Center. The event is part of the College’s annual Alumni Weekend (May 14-17). Flagler’s Director of Golf, Santiago Cavanagh, will be inducted at a separate ceremony in December. The Flagler College Athletics Hall of Fame was established in 2004 to honor student-athletes and administrators who made a major contribution to the intercollegiate sports programs while at Flagler, as well as a significant impact in their community after graduating, and since then, 79 people and one team have been inducted, including this year’s class. Cohen was a starter on the basketball (1975-79) and slow-pitch softball (1976-80) teams at Flagler. She helped the Saints win a FAIAW State title in 1976, 1977, and 1979 in basketball an...

  JACKSONVILLE - North Florida Baseball secured itself as the Atlantic Sun Conference Graphite Champions with a come-from-behind win over West Georgia, 6-5, at Harmon Stadium on Thursday.  It marked the first time in program history North Florida clinched the ASUN Graphite Division title. North Florida's 20 wins in ASUN play this season are the most since its Division I inception in 2006. The Ospreys opened the scoring with a three-run bottom of the first inning. Junior infielder Mathew Farner drove in North Florida's first run of the game with a sacrifice fly.  Redshirt sophomore outfielder Carter White roped an RBI single to right field in the bottom of the first frame to give North Florida a 2-0 lead.  Redshirt junior utility player Jackson Toberman capped off UNF's three-run first inning with a hard hit ball to shortstop that plated a run, allowing the Ospreys to command a 3-0 lead. West Georgia responded with one run in the second inning and two in the third to ...

 MEMPHIS – Kemp Alderman blasted two home runs and Johnny Olmstead added a deep fly among his three hits and three RBIs to lead the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp to a series win on Sunday with a 7-3 victory over the Memphis Redbirds from AutoZone Park. Memphis (27-18) led 2-0 when Matthew Etzel singled with two outs in the third against Redbirds starter Bruce Zimmermann (4-2). Alderman then clobbered a two-run homer to knot the score at two. Olmstead put Jacksonville (24-21) ahead with a leadoff homer in the fifth. After a pair of outs, Alderman went deep again, sending a bomb over the center field wall to become the second Jumbo Shrimp to record a multi-homer game this season.  Olmstead jumpstarted another rally in the seventh. He singled before stealing second and moving to third on an error on the play. Two batters later, Etzel singled him in to widen the gap to 5-2. The Jumbo Shrimp put the game out of reach in the eighth. Andrew Pintar singled and Ethan O’Donnell walked with...

  FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of South Florida softball team’s championship season came to an end in the Fayetteville Regional final against No. 10 Arkansas. The Bulls (44-17) fell to the Razorbacks (45-11) 10-2. South Florida finished the season with 40-plus wins for the 19th time under Head Coach Ken Eriksen. The Bulls made their 19th NCAA regional appearance after winning their 10th conference championship under Eriksen. It is the second consecutive season the Bulls have won 44 games.  Alexa Galligani belted her sixth home run, ending her career on a seven-game hitting streak. Alex Wilkes, Kacey Wilkes,and Jocelyn Wilkes became the first trio of sisters to play together in an NCAA regional game.  Brinli Bain recorded a one-out double in the bottom of the first inning for the Razorbacks. The next batter hit a line drive up the middle, and Garcia-Soto snagged it and dove to beat the runner back to second, completing the double play and ending the inning. Wilkes ...

MEMPHIS – Matthew Etzel and Jesús Bastidas each homered on Friday, but the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp’s five-game winning streak came to an end with a 7-5 loss to the Memphis Redbirds at AutoZone Park. With the score tied at five, Ramon Mendoza and Joshua Báez bashed back-to-back home runs to start the eighth against Jumbo Shrimp (23-20) reliever Luis Palacios (1-1), giving the Redbirds (26-17) a 7-5 advantage. Ryan Fernandez then worked a perfect ninth to seal the win for Memphis. Jacksonville got on the board first with a two-out rally in the second. Etzel walked and then Bastidas was hit by a pitch. Ethan O’Donnell and Jared Serna followed with RBI singles for the game’s first runs. Memphis immediately tied in the bottom of the second. Jimmy Crooks led off with a single and Mendoza walked. A passed ball advanced both runners and a Bligh Madris sacrifice fly brought in Crooks. Mendoza then scored on a wild pitch to tie things at two. The Redbirds grabbed their first lead in the fourt...

  PHOTO by JAMES BRADY/FSW JACKSONVILLE (SportsTicker) --   The Opening Game of the UPSHOT League is in the books, as the Charlotte Crown rallied with a dominant second half performance in the paint to defeat the Jacksonville Waves 103-95 in a high-scoring affair in front of an announced crowd of 7,308 at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena Friday night.   Charlotte's Deja Kelly led the way with 31 points with 14 rebounds in the game.  Jackonville was led by Ariel "Air" Hearn's 25 points.   Jacksonville held a 12-point lead in the second quarter, but Charlotte won the offensive boards battle down the stretch 15-5, and finished with 52 points in the paint, which proved to be instrumental in their victory.   The two teams will meet again on Wednesday in Charlotte for the Crown's home opener.   The next Waves home game is set for May 23 against the Greensboro Groove.