Blue Wahoos Stadium Hosts UWF Baseball Tuesday In Showcase Game 

His desire to play an annual game at Blue Wahoos Stadium has provided UWF baseball coach Mike Jeffcoat with a notable element this time.

After the Argos came back against No. 16 ranked Delta State to win their biggest weekend series, so far, this season, they will face the University of North Georgia Nighthawks on Tuesday (6 p.m.) in a one-game return to the bayfront ballpark.

North Georgia coach Tom Cantrell, the only coach in the program’s history, is retiring after this season. Cantrell enters Tuesday’s matchup with 867 wins at the school. His team is 11-6 to start this season.

“I always look forward to us playing at Wahoos Stadium. It’s going to be a little extra special for me,” Jeffcoat said. “Tommy Cantrell is a good friend of mine. He started their baseball program in 2000 and he had a lot of success at DeKalb (Ga.) Junior College before that.

“I’m really excited to finish our last series with him playing a game (at Blue Wahoos State), then one (Wednesday) at our place, but getting to do the Tuesday night game at Wahoos Stadium. We’re going to do a little pregame recognition of him before (Tuesday’s) game.”

The Argos (9-7) dropped the first game Friday against Delta State at Jim Spooner Field. But they received strong pitching to sweep Saturday’s doubleheader 2-0 and 6-2 to win the series against one of their top rivals in the conference.

“I think with this team we’re going to pitch and defend very well,” Jeffcoat said. “We have pitching depth. I really feel good about our pitching and if we can hold it close, I think we can win a lot of one run games.”

The Argos seek to make amends for last year’s experience at Blue Wahoos Stadium. They fell behind 5-0 after two innings and lost 12-1 against Georgia Southwestern in a game halted after seven innings. That loss occurred during a difficult stretch of the 2024 season.

“We want to play well and we certainly want to play better than we did last year, for sure,” Jeffcoat said.

UWF got hot last year in late May, won the Gulf South Conference championship for a second straight season and reached the deciding game of the NCAA Division II South Region championship.

That team was led by outfielder Darrien McDowell, a Tate High and Pensacola State College grad, who became the region player of the year, first-team national All-American and sixth-round pick of the San Diego Padres. The Argos were also led in 2024 by Jeffcoat’s son, Trent, a star shortstop who earned a Rawlings Gold Glove award in 2023.

This year’s team returned a bulk of the pitching staff and catcher Brett Rowell, a Shalimar native and Fort Walton Beach-Choctawhatchee graduate, who leads the team with a .400 average, along with team highs in RBI (16) home runs (4) and slugging percentage (.709).

“We’ve scuffled a little bit, we’re trying to find our offense,” Jeffcoat said. “But we’ve played better as of late. We’re starting to find out who we are. We’re not going to be a power-hitting team as we were last year with Darrien gone and Trent at the top of the order.

“Normally it takes me a little bit to figure out our lineup to get the right combinations in there. I like to give guys opportunities. They have all worked hard.

“So the first month of the season, I have always tried to get guys in there. It’s been tougher, because we started conference play on the third weekend. We now have 33 conference games on our schedule, so you don’t have a lot of time to figure out what you’ve got.”

The Argos starting lineup has seven players who were on the 2024 teams. The newcomers are shortstop Gann Nobles, a Daphne, Alabama native, third baseman Tanner Taylor, along with designated hitter Brantley Willis, a Marianna native, who is batting .327 with nine RBI.

Senior outfielder Cade Easterbrook, who is batting .339 with 11 RBI and Jadon Fryman, a Tate High grad, join with Rowell as the core leadership among the position players.

“(Easterbrook) had a big second half last year and post season for us,” Jeffcoat said. “Rowell has been swinging the bat real well. Fryman has basically started four years for us out in centerfield. He started slow, but he’s starting to swing the bat well.

“Those three guys are our anchor.”

Against Delta State, senior Jacob Heath allowed just three hits across eight innings of the 2-0 win in Saturday’s first game. Grant Adams and Kade Manderscheid combined for the 6-2 win in the second game. Senior Dalton Neuschwander, a Spanish Fort High grad, is the Argos’ top starter and Friday pitcher.

“We feel like our pitching is solid to always give us a chance,” Jeffcoat said.

WANT TO GO?

WHAT: UWF Baseball

WHO: University of North Georgia Nighthawks (11-6) vs. UWF Argos (9-7).

WHEN: Tuesday, 6 p.m. (Gates open at 5 p.m.)

WHERE: Blue Wahoos Stadium

TICKETS: $10 general admission, $8 students with ID. (No reserved seating).

INFO: Tickets can be purchased online at www.bluewahoos.com (scroll down to events) or a stadium box office.

NOTEWORTHY: Blue Wahoos Stadium is a cashless venue. Two concession storefronts will be open on third base side.