JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – FGCU continues its stretch of touring the Sunshine State this weekend when the Eagles (17-4, 3-0 Atlantic Sun) make their way to Jacksonville for a three-game ASUN series at North Florida (10-12, 2-1).

SCENE SETTER | Series History
Game 1: Friday, Mar. 20 | 6 p.m. | Live Stats | Evan Dempsy (3-0, 2.10) vs. Dakota Stone (3-2, 3.86)
Game 2: Friday, Mar. 21 | 3 p.m. | Live Stats | Chris Diaz (2-0, 4.29) vs. Trevor Nikolis (1-1, 2.76)
Game 3: Friday, Mar. 22 | 1 p.m. | ESPN+ | Live Stats | TBD vs. Joseph Dimino (0-1, 4.05)

The three-game series at UNF's Dusty Rhodes Field at Harmon Stadium starts Friday at 6 p.m., continues Saturday at 3 p.m. and concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. Only the series finale will be broadcast and can be seen on ESPN+.

FGCU and North Florida are meeting for the 69^th time when they take the field Friday evening, with the Eagles having won the past four meetings. The Green & Blue hold a 39-29 advantage in the all-time series with a 20-13 mark at UNF.

The Ospreys opened league play last weekend at Stetson, taking two of the three games against the Hatters, but recently dropped an 11-6 midweek contest at Charleston Southern.

Dakota Stone, UNF's projected starting pitcher on Friday, leads the ASUN in wins (3) and is second in strikeouts (34), providing an early test for an FGCU offense that has so far been a challenge for other teams to contain. The Eagles enter the weekend ranking second nationally and leading the ASUN with 277 hits, while ranking 27^th nationally and leading the ASUN with 182 runs scored.

A lot of that power has come from, well, the entire lineup. All nine of FGCU's projected starting players are hitting .300 or better this season. That lineup is led by Javier Gorostola's .433 batting average and school-record 39-game hitting streak. Gorostola ranks second in the nation in hits (39), and would be the national leader if not for teammate Jon Embury's 42 hits so far this season. Embury also ranks third in the nation in RBIs (38) and 15^th in runs scored (20).

If the Ospreys hope to keep up in an offensive battle, they will likely look to Matthew Farner and his team-leading seven home runs. That mark ranks Farner 61^st nationally and third in the ASUN.
 
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