Baseball Heads to Jacksonville for Three-Game Set at North Florida

Friday, February 20

Jacksonville, FL

6:05 PM

Quinnipiac University

North Florida

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Baseball Heads to Jacksonville for Three-Game Set at North Florida

2/19/2026 10:05:00 AM | Baseball

Quinnipiac Bobcats (1-2) at North Florida Ospreys (3-2)
Date: Friday, Feb. 20
Time: 6:05 PM
Location: Harmon Stadium | Jacksonville, Fla.
Live Stats: Click Here | @TheQBaseball

Quinnipiac at North Florida
Date: Saturday, Feb. 21
Time: 3:05 PM
Location: Harmon Stadium | Jacksonville, Fla.
Live Stats: Click Here | @TheQBaseball

Quinnipiac at North Florida
Date: Sunday, Feb. 22
Time: 1:05 PM
Location: Harmon Stadium | Jacksonville, Fla.
Live Stats: Click Here | @TheQBaseball

JACKSONVILLE, Florida – The Quinnipiac baseball team kicks off the 2026 season with a three-game set against Old Dominion out of the Sun Belt Conference. Quinnipiac begins a twelve-game road trip to start the new season.

LAST TIME OUT

In their first series of the new season, the Quinnipiac Bobcats dropped two out of three to the Old Dominion Monarchs on Opening Weekend.
In Game One against ODU, the Bobcats took a 3-2 lead in the third inning, but it was all Monarchs after that, winning the opener, 15-5.
On Saturday, the Bobcats and Monarchs split the doubleheader with ODU winning game one, 15-5, and Quinnipiac earning the comeback victory in game two, 6-5 in 10 innings.
Matt Alduino picked up the win on the mound, pitching the final 3.1 innings to help QU earn its first victory of the season.
Five Bobcats picked up their first hits at QU throughout the weekend: Matt Park, Chase Camac, Caden Williams, Peyton Vancas, and Brendan Edvardsen.

HISTORY VS. NORTH FLORIDA

Friday's matchup will be the fourth meeting between the two teams in their program history.
North Florida leads the all-time series against the Bobcats, 2-1.
The Ospreys won the only series against the Bobcats (2-1) back in March of 2016.
Quinnipiac won that series opener (3-0) before dropping the final two games to UNF (12-8 and 6-5).

SCOUTING THE OSPREYS

North Florida holds a 3-2 record early in the 2026 season. The Ospreys opened the season with a series win over the Sacred Heart Pioneers.
UNF dropped their Season Opener to the Pioneers, 7-2, but bounced back winning game two, 16-3, and game three, 12-2 (7 innings).
The Ospreys played a pair of midweek contests, dropping their game against Charleston Southern, 12-4, and beating Florida A&M, 15-4 in seven innings.
Sean Benjamin has started four contests for the Ospreys and leads the team with a .500 batting average. Benjamin has recorded seven hits so far this season, with five of those being doubles.
Another lethal bat in the Osprey lineup is Mathew Farner, who is second on the team with a .438 batting average. Of his seven hits this season, Farner has hit four homers, which leads the team and is tied for second in the NCAA.
North Florida has sent fifteen pitchers to the mound so far this season, with seven of those pitchers not allowing an earned run. Of the five different starting pitchers so far this season, Ed Wagner holds the lowest ERA (3.86) in 4.2 innings pitched.

BOBCAT LEADERS (Among Players that Qualify: 2PA/G and 75% of Games Played)

Batting Average: Christian Smith (.385)
Runs: Alex Irizarry, Chase Camac (4)
Hits: Christian Smith (5)
Doubles: Christian Smith (2)
Triples: Kyle Garbowski (1)
Home Runs: None
RBIs: Christian Smith (3)
Stolen Bases: Six Tied (1)
ERA: James Pazdera and Matt Alduino (0.00)
WHIP: Matt Alduino (1.00)
Wins: Matt Alduino (1)
Saves: None
Innings Pitched: James Pazdera (3.2)
Strikeouts: James Pazdera (8)

PRESEASON ACCOLADES

The Quinnipiac Baseball team was picked to finish 3^rd in the MAAC Preseason Poll after last season ended in the MAAC Semifinal round against the Rider Broncs.
Christian Smith was named to the Preseason All-MAAC team as he returns to Hamden.
Smith finished the year with a .329 batting average in 56 contests. Smith tied for the team lead in home runs with 15 and led the Bobcats with 67 runs batted in.
Smith had a tremendous MAAC Tournament last season, finishing the week with a .375 clip (6-for-16), while driving in nine runs in the five games in Pomona, earning him a nod on the All-Tournament team.

KEY RETURNERS

The Bobcats return 19 players from last year's team, with of those players seeing game action.
Of those returners, nine are pitchers: J.C. Franconere, Sam Wright, Griffin Seibel, Mike Poncini, Matt Alduino, Nick Balcom, Andrew Rubayo, Josh Lajoie, and Mason Ulsh.
Ten position players return: Cole Constable, Kyle Garbowski, Sam Ametrano, Christian Smith, Alex Irizarry, Luke Zeisloft, James Marino, Matt Park, Ian Nilsen, and Christian Nilsen.

LOTS OF NEW FACES

Quinnipiac welcomes 16 new faces to its campus this season.
The Bobcats used the transfer portal to bring in sophomore right-handed pitcher Maddex Labuda (Liberty), junior outfield/first baseman Jack Balcer (Widener), senior right-handed pitcher James Pazdera, and graduate outfielder Brendan Edvardsen (AIC).
Quinnipiac also brought in 12 first years, with six being pitchers and six being position players, Peyton Vancas (Pleasant Gap, Pa.), Timothy Park (Bridgewater, NJ.), Chase Camac (Northfield, NJ.), Caden Williamson (Broomfield, Co.), Teagan Beames (New Fairfield, Conn.), Brayden Hromada (Center Moriches, NY.), Joseph Hiller (Center Moriches, NY.), Kevin Rusinak (Manalapan, NJ.), Ethan Freed (Limerick, Pa.), Frank Orrei (Verona, NJ.), Langdon Hazen (Underhill, VT.), and Jacob Belecky (Komoka, Ontario, Canada).

NEXT TIME OUT

The Bobcats head back on the road next weekend as they travel to face East Tennessee State University (Feb. 27 – Mar. 1) for a three-game set.

For more information on the Quinnipiac baseball team, visit gobobcats.com/baseball and follow the team on Twitter/X, @TheQBaseball, and Instagram, @TheQBaseball.