JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The FGCU baseball team (12-13-1) will begin defense of its Atlantic Sun Regular Season Championship on Friday night when it travels to North Florida (19-9) to open up league play. The Eagles posted a 19-8 record in the A-Sun last season to claim its fourth regular season title while UNF went 11-16 and finished eighth. FGCU took two of three from the Opsreys at Swanson Stadium last season and later ousted UNF in the first round of the A-Sun Tournament.

LAST TIME OUT
FGCU is coming off of its biggest win of the season to date. The Eagles rode a breakout effort on the mound from Jordan Desguin (Newport Harbor, Calif./Newport Harbor HS) and a power surge from Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) to an 8-1 victory on the road over No. 13 Miami (18-8, 6-3 ACC) on Wednesday night. The Eagles set the tone early and cruised to the win after dropping the first two games of the season series. It is the Eagles' first win over a ranked opponent since Feb. 27, 2014 when the Green and Blue downed No. 23 Florida on the road as well.

Rivera blasted two home runs deep into the Miami night, giving him three for the season and totaled five RBI on the two long balls with the first being a three-run shot in the top of the first to put the Eagles ahead early. The sophomore now has an FGCU best 27 RBI this season with nine doubles. Matt Reardon (Palm City, Fla./Martin County) drove in two runs while going 2-5 at the plate with a run scored. The freshman is now hitting .304 for the season.

Desguin made the first start of his FGCU career on Wednesday night and made an impression immediately. He would strike out the side in the bottom of the first inning and finish with five strikeouts overall against just one walk while only giving up four hits. The junior is now 3-0 this season with a 2.25 ERA over 24.0 innings on the hill for the Green and Blue. He has struck out 21 batters against four walks and opponents are hitting just .172 off him. He is the third different Eagle to toss a complete game this season and all three have come in the last five games. He joins the likes of Mike Murray (West Palm Beach, Fla./Forrest Hill HS) and Brady Anderson (Arcardia, Fla./DeSoto HS) the latter of which was named Atlantic Sun Co-Pitcher of the Week on Monday.

Rivera and Noll are hitting .384 and .358, respectively, to lead the Eagles this season while freshmen Zach Spivey (Ormond Beach, Fla./Spruce Creek HS) and Reardon have posted averages of .321 and .304. Rivera has produced a team-leading 27 RBI with eight coming just this week in two midweek games. In those games he has also produced four doubles and a pair of homeruns to build his slugging percentage up to .593. He has also walked 15 times to account for a .491 on base percentage which also leads the Eagles.

SCOUTING UNF
The Ospreys are led on offense by Donnie Dewees who is hitting .394 this season with seven home runs and 33 RBI with a .716 slugging percentage. Trent Higginbothem is hitting .361 and Nick Karmeris is hitting .342. Tyler Moore will take the mound on Friday night opposite Murray. He is 1-2 this season with a 2.92 ERA and 21 strikeouts. Tyler Dupont will pitch on Saturday afternoon and he has produced a 3.79 ERA to go with his 4-0 record. As a team the Opsreys are hitting .300 and the staff is allowing opponents to hit just .271. UNF has won 13 of its last 14 games at this point in the season.

MIKE MURRAY
Mike Murray became the fifth pitcher in FGCU baseball history to record 20 wins when he tossed a complete-game shutout opposite Bethune-Cookman (6-18, 6-3 MEAC) last Friday night under the lights of Swanson Stadium. The junior cruised through his outing, striking out four while getting five runs of support from the Eagle offense to account for the 5-0 victory.

Murray allowed six hits but no runner reached second base until the ni`nth inning. His four strikeouts now give him 43 for the season and he once again worked a walk-free start while lowering his ERA to 2.47 and needed just 112 pitches to complete this one. Murray will now be in hot-pursuit of the career wins record of 25 currently held by FGCU pitching coach Pete Woodworth.

This is not the first complete-game for the FGCU ace but rather is third. Murray became just the second pitcher in FGCU history to throw back-to-back complete games a season ago. Ricky Knapp did so in March of 2012 when he went the distance against North Florida and East Tennessee State in consecutive outings.

BRADY ANDERSON
For the first time in his career, FGCU junior right-hander Brady Anderson was named the Atlantic Sun Co-Pitcher of the Week in the wake of his brilliant complete-game, 10 strikeout performance on Saturday afternoon. Anderson is the second Pitcher of the Week from FGCU chosen by the conference office this season.

It was Anderson's first complete-game of his career as he guided the Green and Blue to a 6-1 victory over Bethune-Cookman (6-19, 6-3 MEAC) and put his team in position to get a second-consecutive weekend sweep at home. Over 9.0 innings, Brady would allow just four hits and one walk while throwing only 101 pitches.

Anderson took the hill to make his third start of the season and first since Feb. 22 opposite Fordham. He had made seven relief appearances since his last start and entered the matchup with an ERA of 5.19 over 26.0 innings. He would get rolling from the start however and his 10 strikeouts, which are a career-high, now account for 30 percent of his 2015 total (30) and he would retire each of final 12 batters he faced in the game after giving up a hit to begin the sixth.

HEAD COACH MATCHUP
In 13 seasons of work, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 446-251-3 record as the only head coach in the program's history. He will match up with Smoke Laval who became the second head baseball coach in the history of the University of North Florida when he assumed the position on July 1, 2010. Since his arrival to North Florida Laval has posted a 120-101 overall record, including the school's first 40-win season at the Division I level in 2013.

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 20-23 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.

DAVE TOLLETT
In 12+ seasons of work, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 446-251-3 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.