Feb. 13-15, 2015 | 6:30 PM, 1 PM, 4 PM, 1 PM | Swanson Stadium
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GAME 1 – Friday Feb. 13, 2015 – 6:30 PM
FGCU | Mike Murray (2014): 13-1, 1.85 ERA, 107.0 IP, 92 H, 30 R, 22 ER, 14 BB, 79 SO
CMU | Nick Deeg (2014): 5-4, 4.08 ERA, 81.2 IP, 90 H, 44 R, 37 ER, 26 BB, 64 SO

GAME 2 – Saturday Feb. 14, 2015 – 1 PM
FGCU | Devin Smeltzer: First Career Start
CMU | Adam Aldred (2014): 5-5, 3.75 ERA, 81.2 IP, 88 H, 43 R, 34 ER, 30 BB, 54 SO

GAME 3 – Saturday Feb. 14, 2015 – 4 PM
FGCU | Brady Anderson (2014): 5-3, 2.45 ERA, 69.2 IP, 72 H, 29 R, 19 ER, 14 BB, 50 SO
CMU | Jordan Grosjean (2014): 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO

GAME 4 – Sunday Feb. 15, 2015 – 11:30 AM
FGCU | TBA
CMU | TBA

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The 2015 FGCU baseball season finally gets underway on Friday night (Feb. 13) under lights of Swanson Stadium at 6:30 p.m. when the Eagles welcome the Chippewas of Central Michigan for the first of a four-game series on opening weekend. FGCU head coach Dave Tollett will hand the ball to his All-American ace Mike Murray who will be looking to build upon a historic sophomore campaign.

With a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday afternoon, FGCU will send freshman lefty Devin Smeltzer (Voorhees, N.J./Bishop Eustuce Prep) to the mound to make the first start of his collegiate career in game one. Smeltzer comes to FGCU after being drafted in the 33rd round of the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft by the San Diego Padres.

Brady Anderson (Arcardia, Fla./DeSoto HS) will take mound for the Green and Blue in the second half of the doubleheader after producing a stellar close to his 2014 season. The junior posted a 5-3 record in 2014 with a team-leading seven saves after serving as the staff closer for the first part of the season. Once taking over as a starter, Anderson rolled to a 2.45 ERA in 69.2 IP with 50 strikeouts to his credit against just 14 walks.

SCOUTING CENTRAL MICHIGAN
The Chippewas, who like the Eagles are receiving votes in the preseason Collegiate Baseball Top 40 poll, posted a 35-23 record last season and a 19-8 mark in the MAC. CMU would finish the season in second place in the MAC West Division and entered the tournament as the second seed but were eliminated in two games. They closed the year with the No. 128 RPI in the nation. The Eagles have met with CMU twice before, first in 2009 when they split a two-game series then again in 2011 which resulted in a split of a four-game set.

CMU, who was picked to finish second in the MAC West in the preseason coaches poll, return most of its position players, including catcher Tyler Huntey, first baseman Cody Leichman, infielder Pat MacKenzie, and outfielders Nick Reginier and Logan Regnier. Huntey, Leichman, MacKenzie and Nick Regnier are seniors, while Logan Regnier is a junior. Leichman led the Chippewas with seven home runs and 56 RBI last season while hitting .315. He ranked second on the team in batting average behind Huntey, who enjoyed a breakout year in hitting .329 with five homers and 51 RBI. The Regnier brothers are top-of-the-order talents. Logan Regnier hit .311 and stole 22 bases in 26 attempts in 2014, while Nick Regnier hit .290 and led the MAC with 35 steals (in 38 attempts).

Lefthander Nick Deeg takes the mound opposite the Eagle All-American on Friday night as the newly anointed top-starter for the Chippewas after posting a 5-4 record with a 4.08 ERA in 81.2 innings pitched as the Sunday started in 2014. Aldred, also a lefty, appeared in 18 games a year ago, 11 of them starts. He went 5-5 with a 3.75 ERA. Grosjean, a 6-4 sophomore right-hander, did not allow an earned run in 5 1/3 innings last season.

FGCU BY THE NUMBERS
2014 Home Record: 22-11
2014 Night Games: 17-11
2014 Day Games: 22-11
2014 Vs. Left Handed Starter: 12-4
2014 Vs. Right Handed Starter: 27-18

HEAD COACH MATCHUP
About to start his 13th season of work, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 434-238-2 record as the only head coach in the program's history. He will match up with Steve Jaksa who is in his 13th season as well at the helm of CMU and is 388-304-1 in the span.

RECEIVING VOTES
When the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its 2015 Preseason Division I Poll on Monday, the FGCU baseball team received votes towards a national ranking for the second time this preseason. The Eagles also received votes from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper last month.

Defending National Champion Vanderbilt is ranked No. 1 in the poll with Virginia following in second followed by TCU, LSU and in-state rival Florida rounding out the top five. Defending A-Sun Tournament Champion Kennesaw State checks in at No. 26 while 2015 opponents Miami, Florida State and Nebraska check in at 13, 16 and 31, respectively.

MIKE MURRAY
Murray (West Palm Beach, Fla./Forrest Hill HS) has already been named a Preseason All-American by three separate publications. Perfect Game and the NCBWA selected Murray to the third team while Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper chose the right-hander to the second team. He has also been tabbed the Preseason A-Sun Pitcher of the Year and named to the 50-man Preseason Golden Spikes Award watch list.

The West Palm Beach native had arguably the greatest season any FGCU pitcher has ever had with a program record 13 wins and an A-Sun best 1.85 ERA to go with 79 strikeouts which also led the league. Murray became the fourth A-Sun Pitcher of the Year that FGCU has had. He joined the group of Richard Bleier (2008), Chris Sale (2010) and Ricky Knapp (2012), all of which are now playing professional baseball. He was also tabbed to the A-Sun First Team. Murray was a Freshman All-American following the 2013 campaign.

2014 Murray Awards
Louisville Slugger All-American - 2nd Team
NCBWA All-America – 3rd Team
Rawlings/ABCA All-American – 3rd Team
ABCA South All-Region First Team
Atlantic Sun Pitcher of the Year
Atlantic Sun All-Conference First Team
4x Atlantic Sun Pitcher of the Week
USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist
College Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher of the Year Watch List 

Murray was one of just nine pitchers in the A-Sun in the last 10 years to win double-digit games in a season. The sophomore was a semifinalist for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award which names college baseball's best player, was also been named to the 18-Man College Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher of the Year watch list and was a Louisville Slugger Second Team All-American in recognition of the stellar season he put together. His name is mentioned alongside players from all of the power conferences including in-state rivals and perennial college baseball powers, Florida State, Miami and Florida. He was the only player on the College Baseball Hall of Fame watch list that came from the A-Sun.

JAKE NOLL
Noll (Punta Gorda, Fla./Charlotte HS) the Preseason Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, has also been selected to the Louisville Slugger Pre-Season All-America third team, D1Baseball.com Preseason All-America Third Team and NCBWA Preseason All-America Third Team. The second baseman compiled an impressive list of accolades following his debut season. Noll was the Louisville Slugger National Freshman Player of the Year, a Louisville Slugger Third Team All-American, an NCBWA 2014 Freshman All-America First Team selection, 2014 Perfect Game Freshman All-America Second Team selection, Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year, A-Sun First Team selection and A-Sun All-Freshman Team member.

He was brilliant during his freshman campaign serving as the catalyst at the top of the FGCU lineup. The Punta Gorda native became the first FGCU player in program history to earn Freshman of the Year honors from the A-Sun. He collected a program record 101 hits this season which ranked second in the nation behind the A-Sun Player of the Year, Max Pentecost while also stealing an A-Sun best and FGCU single-season record 25 bases. Noll broke the single-season hits record in the first inning of the A-Sun semifinal game against Lipscomb with his first and only triple of the season.

The Charlotte High School product built a team-best .367 batting average to go with 56 runs, 18 doubles and 29 RBI all while being the only Eagle to appear in all 61 games this season, which is also a single-season program record. The freshman also put together a 19-game hit streak which was the longest of any FGCU player in a season and since Josh Chester had a 24-game hit streak in 2009.

NICK RIVERA
Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS), a Preseason A-Sun All-Conference selection, was the MVP of the A-Sun tournament for FGCU at the plate. He closed his 2014 Championship having gone 10-18 at the plate for a .556 average, one homerun, three doubles, seven runs scored and seven RBI. He would be rewarded for his efforts by being named to the All-Tournament Team. The Cape Coral native surged at the end of the 2014 campaign and finished with a .330 batting average in 59 games with 45 runs, 73 hits, a league-leading 25 doubles, six homeruns and 48 RBI which are tops among returning players. Following his freshman season in 2013 Rivera was named to the A-Sun All-Freshman Team and chosen as a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American.

COLTON BOTTOMLEY
Bottomley (Parkland, Fla./Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS), also a Preseason A-Sun All-Conference choice, missed the first part of the 2014 season an injury but would return and produce in a big way in the middle of the FGCU lineup. The Parkland native produced a .328 average in 42 games with 38 runs, 57 hits, 11 doubles, six homeruns and 25 RBI. He would pick up his first hit and RBI of the 2014 season in the same at-bat in a win against Florida A&M then picked up four RBI in a game at Stetson before going 5-5 with a single, homerun and three doubles, scoring twice and driving in two a day later.

2015 ATLANTIC SUN BASEBALL PRESEASON HONORS AND AWARDS
Preseason Player of the Year: Jake Noll, FGCU
Preseason Pitcher of the Year: *Mike Murray, FGCU*
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Grant Massey, Lipscomb

PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
*SP – Mike Murray, FGCU
SP – Travis Bergen, Kennesaw State
SP – Ian Martinez-McGraw, Lipscomb
RP – Jason Ziegler, Lipscomb
C – Patrick Mazeika, Stetson
1B – Nick Rivera, FGCU
*2B – Jake Noll, FGCU
SS – Kal Simmons, Kennesaw State
3B – Trent Higginbothem, North Florida
OF – Colton Bottomley, FGCU
OF – Alex Liquori, Kennesaw State
OF – Donnie Dewees, North Florida
DH – Corbin Olmstead, North Florida
*Unanimous Choice

A-SUN PRESEASON COACHES POLL
1. Kennesaw State (6) – 61
2. FGCU (1) – 55
3. Lipscomb (1) – 48
4. North Florida – 38
5. Jacksonville – 31
6. Stetson – 29
7. USC Upstate – 14
8. Northern Kentucky – 12

2015 SCHEDULE
The 2015 FGCU baseball schedule will feature six teams that participated in the 2014 NCAA Baseball Tournament, three conference tournament champions and one NCAA Super Regional participant. The Eagles will play 16 of their first 18 games on campus and a total of 37 at home this season highlighted by the first-ever appearance by in-state rival Miami at Swanson Stadium Mar. 10.

The six NCAA Tournament participants are MEAC Champion Bethune-Cookman, No. 11 Florida State, defending Atlantic Sun Tournament Champion and NCAA Super Regional participant No. 27 Kennesaw State, No. 14 Miami, No. 38 Nebraska and MAAC Champion Siena. A total of 15 games are scheduled against those six programs with 10 taking place on the road.

ATLANTIC SUN CHAMPIONSHIP
The Eagles will once again host the Atlantic Sun Championship Tournament at Swanson Stadium this season. The event is set to take place May 20-24 and the top six teams in the standings at the end of the regular season will advance to the championship and compete in a double-elimination style tournament to determine the A-Sun's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles are four-time A-Sun Regular Season Champions with the most recent title coming in 2014.

2014-15 RECRUITING CLASS
FGCU baseball's 2014-15 recruiting class has been tabbed by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, the same publication that named second baseman Jake Noll the National Freshman Player of the Year in 2014 and FGCU alum Chris Sale the 2010 National Player of the Year, as the No. 38 class in the nation. The Eagles outclassed well-known national powers such as California, Texas A&M, Auburn, Alabama, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Baylor as well as defending Atlantic Sun Tournament Champion and 2014 NCAA Super Regional participant Kennesaw State.

#DRAFTCITY
The Eagles would have a total of three players taken in the 2014 MLB draft, Junior outfielder Michael Suchy (Bradenton, Fla./Southeast HS), Junior third-baseman/pitcher Zack Tillery (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) and Redshirt-Junior, left-handed reliever Ryan Atwood (Austin, Texas/Westwood HS/Navarro College). The Eagles have now produced 22 draft picks in their history with the most notable being 2014 AL Cy Young Award Finalist and three-time All-Star Chris Sale who was chosen in the first round, 13th overall by the Chicago White Sox in 2010. Suchy became the second-highest FGCU player ever taken when he went to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fifth round in last June's draft and is one of just seven players in FGCU history to be chosen in the top ten rounds. The Eagles would have a program record seven players selected during the 2013 draft. Freshman left-hander Devin Smeltzer is the lone FGCU player on the roster this season who has been drafted previously. He was selected in the 33rd round of the 2014 draft by the San Diego Padres but instead opted to attend FGCU.

NEXT UP
The Green and Blue will then welcome Fordham and Illinois for a pair of split doubleheaders Feb. 20 and 22. The Eagles will play Fordham at noon on the 20th and 11 a.m. on the 22nd. The Rams posted a 24-30 overall record last season and went 13-14 in the Atlantic 10. Illinois will square off with the Eagles at 6:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. on the 20th and 22nd, respectively. The Fighting Illini rolled to a 32-21 record in 2014 with a 17-7 mark in the B1G but would miss out on a trip to the NCAA Tournament. They are currently ranked No. 40 in the Collegiate Baseball poll, finished 2014 with the No. 56 RPI and swept the Green and Blue in a two-game set in Gainesville, Fla. last year.

DAVE TOLLETT
In 12 seasons of work, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 434-238-2 record as the only head coach in the program's history. He is a four-time Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year and has guided the Green and Blue to four A-Sun Regular Season Championships. His team has been ranked nationally on several occasions by multiple media outlets and has coached 35 All-Conference selections, 22 draft picks, 14 current minor leaguers, four A-Sun Pitchers of the Year, three All-Americans, one National Freshman Player of the Year, one National Player of the Year and one MLB All-Star.

#WINGSUP
Fans are encouraged to download the brand-new Wings Up mobile app in conjunction with SuperFanU. The fully-customized loyalty-rewards platform allows fans to check in at each of FGCU's sporting events to earn points throughout the school year toward exclusive prizes that can't be offered anywhere else.

FOLLOW ALONG
For constant, news, photos, videos and updates you can follow the baseball team on Twitter @FGCU_Baseball, Instagram @FGCU_Baseball or on Facebook: Facebook.com/FGCUBaseball. You can also find FGCU athletics on YouTube by visiting YouTube.com/FGCUEagles.

#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.