PENSACOLA, Fla. – For the 43
rd time in program history, the Florida Southern College baseball team will take part in the NCAA South #2 Regional Tournament, hosted by the University of West Florida. The Moccasins will take on 2-Seed/No. 15 West Florida on Thursday, May 18, at 4:30 ET before playing either (3) Montevallo or (6) Barry on Friday, May 19 in a double-elimination tournament. The competition will continue through Sunday if necessary, pending the outcome of each of the games.
Location: Pensacola, Fla. (Univ. of West Florida)
Field: Jim Spooner Field
Dates: May 18-21 (Double Elimination; 4-team field)
Time: 3:30 p.m. CT/4:30 p.m. ET
Live Stats: https://goargos.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
Live Video: https://goargos.com/watch/?Live=493&type=Live
Championship Central:
https://goargos.com/sports/2021/5/24/2021-ncaa-division-ii-baseball-south-regional.aspx
7th Seed – The Moccasins – Roster | Schedule | Coaches | Statistics
Florida Southern entered the NCAA postseason as the last at-large bid in the eight-team region, selected to the #2 region hosted by UWF. Mocs are 32-18 overall this season, having started the season 2-4 before winning the next 14 in a row. FSC ended the regular season with a tough Barry University opponent, with a series sweep over Florida Tech the week before. The final game of the series against the Panthers was the 300
th win for head coach
Lance Niekro '10.
As a team, the Mocs dominated in slugging over the fence with a total of 76 homers, tied for third-most in program history. In all, Mocs had 23 games with two or three more home runs and three total grand slams. Batting .316 as a team, FSC continued to improve over the season in batting and finished with seven starters batting over .300. From the mound, FSC had a 5.52 ERA and were led by starters
Nathan Madej, Aric McAtee, and
Jordan Fox. Madej and McAtee had six wins each with Fox right behind with five. The team had a combined 461 strikeouts from the pitching lineup and an opposing batting average of .279.
Earlier this week, the All-SSC Baseball Teams were released with three Moccasins named to the First Team. Catcher
Drew Cavanaugh, third baseman
Rohsean Riley, and outfielder
Bryce Safferwich were each named to the top team. Safferwich led the team in batting average with a .392 average and Cavanaugh had a team-high 12 homers on the year. Riley had a great year with the Mocs with a .323 average and added a key position in the infield. Second Team member,
Connor Berry, was the utility player that spent time as DH, first base, and any other spot the Mocs can fit him in his 48 starts and current 17-game hit streak. Berry had 11 homers and a team-best 54 RBI. The All-Defensive Team included Cavanaugh and
Mitch Donofrio (2B), whom each had a great fielding percentage with Cavanaugh behind the plate or DH in 44 games.
Jeff Liquori has battled all season and had 18 multi-hit games this season and had 10 go-yard to bring his career total to 24, ranking him 16
th in program history.
Jevin Relaford has been solid at shortstop, making leaps and bounds every game showing off his athleticism, and led the Mocs with 14 stolen bases, the most since 2016. He also had 16 multi-hit games and 10 games with two or more RBI. Another key outfielder for the Mocs,
D'Ante Starks continued to improve, including a grand slam in the game against Palm Beach Atlantic earlier this season. Other key players include DH powerhouses
Ryan Magdic and
El'Rico Riley, with other batters being
Grady Maguire,
Julio Cortez (catcher),
Nick Wells, and
Ahmad Fitts.
From the mound, Mocs rely on starters already mentioned and a plethora of relievers and 18 pitchers utilized over the course of the season. Despite no All-SSC accolades, Mocs had a great number of relievers led by
Kerry Wright with a 2.48 ERA in his 22 appearances. The big righty had 29.0 innings pitched and 33 strikeouts in the season, only giving up eight earned runs.
Justin Wit and
Andrew Williamson paired as consistent relievers that frequently went crucial later-inning work. Both had one save each with Wit having a 4-2 record.
Collin Camarigg emerged as a key closer for the Mocs, and one of the best in the conference with eight saves in the year. He had 18 appearances and finished with 26 strikeouts in 24.0 innings pitched. Other midweek starters or mid-game relievers included
Mitchell LeRoy, Christian Suarez, Lake Fisher, and
Evan Mobley. The Moccasin leaders in strikeouts was Madej with 89, and McAtee with 81.
2nd Seed – The Argos - Roster | Schedule | Coaches | Statistics
West Florida, the host of the South Region #2, earned the No. 2 seed after a dominating year in the Gulf South. The Argos are fresh off winning the GSC Championship, the 15
th game of the tournament, in a lengthy end to the conference postseason. Bryson Gandy was named the Most Outstanding Player in the game, with Josh Prizina, Trent Jeffcoat, and Jadon Fryman named to the All-Tournament Team. UWF enters the NCAA postseason ranked 15
th in the latest NCBWA Poll.
As a team, the Argos have a .318 batting average, being led by Darrien McDowell and a .374 average. The team has 37 homers, with 14 from McDowell alone. Earlier this month, the Argos had several named to the All-GSC awards, including Pitcher of the Year with Dalton Neuschwander and Coach of the Year with Mike Jeffcoat. Neuschwander went undefeated 8-0 on the year and named to the First Team alongside Kade Manderscheid, Mike Scordo, and McDowell. Second Team members were Major Posey, True Fontenot, and T. Jeffcoat.
Other Possible South Region Opponents
3rd Seed – The Falcons - Roster | Schedule | Coaches | Statistics
Montevallo earned its fourth trip to the NCAA tournament and first since 2018 with an at-large bid. The Falcons went 38-14 in the season for the most wins since 2007. UM was eliminated in the GSC tournament with a 9-5 loss to West Florida, who went on to win the tournament. The GSC Player of the Year came from Montevallo with Sam Kuchinski the winner and Reed Latimer also on the First Team. Second Team members included Luke Mitchell, Ben Teel, and Asa Awbrey.
6th Seed – The Buccaneers - Roster | Schedule | Coaches | Statistics
Barry entered the NCAA postseason with a sixth seed and at-large bid, joining the Mocs after a successful BU series against the Mocs. Barry went 32-17, 16-14 SSC with a five-game win streak. Earlier this week, Bucs had All-SSC honors led by First Team winners Joe Stella (DH) and Braden Forchic (OF) and the SSC Freshman of the Year Jake Ogden. Kevin Noriega and Mike Reagan were All-SSC Second Team winners and Christian Maceda was named to the All-Defensive Team.
FSC in the NCAA Tournament
Florida Southern leads all NCAA Division II programs with nine national championships, the last in 2005. Their 43
rd total NCAA postseason appearance, the Mocs have an overall record of 153-82 in the tournament, with both the appearances and total wins the most in Division II history. At the regional level, FSC has 21 NCAA Regional Championships, the first being in 1969 and the most recent being in 2018. In the 2018 appearance in the NCAA tournament, Mocs played host to a six-team field and would go on to win the region and a third-place overall finish.
The Matchup – FSC vs UWF
The Mocs opened the 2023 season with a three-game series against the Argos, in which FSC won the season opener but dropped the next two games. The sole win came from a thrilling walk-off homer by Liquori in the 11
th inning. Another low-scoring affair in game two, Argos had a close 2-1 win in a scheduled seven-inning game. The series finale went to extras as well, as Safferwich hit a two-run homer to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, but the Argos responded with a solo homer in the 10
th that the Mocs were unable to match.
Mocs hold a 31-24 advantage against the Argos, and 6-4 in the last 10 matchups. Neither team has faced each other in the NCAA postseason with the first matchup during the regular season coming in 1996 and most recent being the 2023 season-opening series.
Other matchups against the Mocs could be Barry University and the University of Montevallo. Despite not playing Montevallo in FSC's program history, Mocs are very familiar with the Barry Buccaneers. Mocs and Bucs ended the regular season last weekend with a three-game series that the Buccaneers swept the Mocs. FSC is 80-34 overall against Barry and 3-7 in the last 10 matchups and only one previous matchup in NCAA regionals with a 1998 7-5 win by Barry over the Mocs in 10 innings on May 15. Having lost the last four games in a row, Mocs will look for a bit of revenge if they face the Bucs this NCAA postseason.
Other Games in the NCAA South Region
Thursday, May 18 – South Region #1
#1 Tampa vs #8 Spring Hill, 1 p.m.
#4 Rollins vs #5 Valdosta State, 5 p.m.
Thursday, May 18 – South Region #2
#3 Montevallo vs #6 Barry, 12 p.m.
