Florida Sports Wires

JACKSONVILLE ( www.jaxsportsday.com )  - North Florida men's soccer (2-3-4) played an eventful River City Rumble match on the road with a 1-1 draw against Jacksonville (2-5-2) on Saturday evening. After 72 minutes of play, the Ospreys were the ones to break the scoreless tie with Joaquin Acuna dishing a perfect pass to Luc Granitur for the score on the run.  Just 10 minutes afterwards, JU's Mason Duval (Andres Perez de Gracia)  responded with a goal with a header on a free kick placed in the top right corner of the frame to force a draw. The Ospreys head back to their home stadium for another weekend of conference play against FGCU on Saturday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. The Dolphins will continue conference play and head to DeLand, Florida, on Saturday, September 30, to take on Stetson. The match will begin at 7 PM.

  JACKSONVILLE ( www.sportsdayjax.com )-   The fourth head coach in UNF baseball's 36-year history is announced as Joe Mercadante is tabbed to lead the program as made official by Director of Athletics Nick Morrow. A meet and greet will be held in July at a date to be finalized, with it also being streamed on North Florida Ospreys on Facebook.  "As we went along the hiring process it became evident that Joe Mercadante would be a great fit for UNF and UNF baseball," Director of Athletics Nick Morrow said. "He has a positive reputation throughout the baseball community for his relentless recruiting efforts, the development of his student-athletes and being a coach of high character. Joe is a Florida native and is well connected throughout the state, allowing him to step in and make an immediate impact on the program. We are thrilled to welcome Joe and his family back to their home state and to the University of North Florida." "It is time for alumni, fans and...

  TAMPA (April 4, 2023)   – The University of South Florida (12-18) entered Tuesday night ranked 52nd in the NCAA in fielding percentage, but four errors led to three unearned runs and the Bulls dropped a 5-4 decision to the UNF Ospreys (16-13) in 10 innings at USF Baseball Stadium. South Florida trailed 4-3 heading to the bottom of the ninth inning when a one-out triple by Rafael Betancourt  gave the Bulls life. The tying run eventually crossed the plate on a wild pitch to force extra innings.   In the top of the 10th, USF’s fourth defensive miscue of the night ultimately led to the fifth UNF run.   Trailing 5-4, the Bulls once again put up a fight in the bottom of the 10th.   Nelson Rivera led off the inning and was robbed of an extra-base hit at the warning track. With one out, Joaquin Monque singled, and his pinch runner, Stanton Leuthner, moved into scoring position on a balk. A groundout moved Leuthner to third base with two outs.   Eric Snow who...

JACKSONVILLE (SportsTicker) - The Jacksonville Dolphins men's basketball team fell to the University of North Florida 77-63 on Thursday night. The opening parts of the first half were almost polar opposite to last year's contest in Swisher. North Florida led for almost the entire half, and at one point more than doubled Jacksonville's score 27-13 with less than eight minutes to play.  A huge part in the opening stages included a near 67% shooting percentage from the field in the first 13 minutes by UNF, which included 50% from deep. The Dolphins shot 26.3% for comparison in that span, and didn't connect on any of their seven three point shots. In the final seven-plus minutes of the half, the same story was being written as JU still could not get hot on the offensive side and didn't hit a three pointer. The Ospreys were able to continue to build on their lead and were up by as much as 21 in the first half, though they led by 19 at the end of the half. The Dolphins ca...