FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU baseball team (14-14-1, 2-1 A-Sun) returns to Swanson Stadium this weekend to square off with the Spartans of USC Upstate (9-20, 1-2 A-Sun) in its first home series against an Atlantic Sun opponent this season. The Eagles are the defending A-Sun Regular Season Champions after going 19-8 in conference a season ago and began league play by taking two of three from North Florida on the road last weekend.

These two programs met in Spartanburg, S.C. last season and it was the Eagles who came away with a three-game sweep. Overall the Green and Blue boast a 14-7 mark in the series against the Spartans. FGCU has swept Upstate three times and have not lost a series since the 2012 season.

FGCU will send right-hander Jordan Desguin (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor HS) to the hill on Thursday night to square off with Brian Boocock. Desguin has been great in his debut season with the Green and Blue, posting a 3-0 record with a 2.10 ERA including a complete-game victory in his first start at No. 13 Miami a week ago. Mike Murray (West Palm Beach, Fla./Forrest Hill HS) will get his start on regular rest on Friday night under the lights and he will be opposite Blake Whitney. Murray struggled in his last start at UNF, surrendering six runs but still picked up the win and is now 3-3 with a 3.80 ERA. Brady Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto HS) will round out the rotation on Saturday afternoon. He will go to work against Zac Manupelli.

The Eagle bats have been on fire over the last 10 games, hitting a combined .312 after posting a .272 mark in the first 19 games. The Eagles have been led during this stretch by Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) who is hitting .450 over the last 10 games with two home runs and 16 RBI while his counterpart, Estero native, Tyler Selesky is hitting .417 with a .523 on base percentage during the same time span. Brady Anderson and Zachary Orchard (Cambridge, Ontario/Jacob Hespeler SS) have emerged as new faces in the lineup of late and have produced in a big way. Anderson is hitting .368 in four starts since Mar. 20 with seven hits and five runs while Orchard has taken over primary catching duties and has hit .269 in seven starts with seven hits, three doubles and three RBI.

USC UPSTATE
USC Upstate will visit Swanson Stadium for a pair of 6:30 p.m. starts Apr. 2 and Apr. 3 before a noon start on Apr. 4. The Spartans struggled last season, managing just a 17-38 record with a 6-20 mark in the A-Sun. The Eagles lead the all-time series with USC Upstate 14-7 and swept the Spartans on the road last season. Upstate took one of three from 2014 NCAA Super Regional participant Kennesaw State over the weekend to begin Atlantic Sun play.

HEAD COACH MATCHUP
In 13 seasons of work, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 448-252-3 record as the only head coach in the program's history. He will match up with Matt Fincher who is in his 18th season as head coach for the Spartans. During that time, Fincher has posted a 399-559 record and was named the Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year following the 2012 season.

NICK RIVERA
For the first time in his career, FGCU first baseman Nick Rivera has been named Atlantic Sun Co-Player of the Week, as announced by the conference office on Monday afternoon, following a monster week at the plate. The junior guided the Green and Blue to a 3-2 record last week including a victory over No. 13 Miami (20-9, 8-4 ACC) and a series victory over A-Sun foe North Florida (20-11, 1-2 A-Sun).

Rivera finished the week hitting .455 over the five games with 10 hits, four doubles and a pair of long balls to go with 12 RBI. His slugging percentage for the week checked in at .909 while his on base percentage was .458. He began the week with three doubles opposite USF then hit two home runs and drove in five runs in the Eagles' 8-1 victory on the road at No. 13 Miami.

The Eagles would open A-Sun play on the road at UNF and Rivera would stay hot throughout the weekend. He would go 4-12 at the plate with three more RBI, jumping his 2015 total to 30 which ranks tops among those in the FGCU lineup and fifth in the A-Sun. So far this season, Rivera, who was a Preseason All-Conference selection, is hitting a team best .378 with 37 hits, nine doubles and three home runs while slugging .561. He has also walked 16 times to help build an on base percentage of .375 which is also best among his fellow Eagles.

Rivera shares the honor with Lipscomb's Jonathan Allison. Allison guided the Bisons to a 4-1 record with midweek wins against Belmont and MTSU before taking the series against Georgetown at home. The senior outfielder delivered 10 hits with nine RBIs as he batted .526 at the plate. Similar to Rivera, Allison recorded three multi-hit & multi-RBI games, while he added four stolen bases.

JORDAN DESGUIN
Desguin made the first start of his FGCU career last Wednesday night at Miami 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 2.10 ERA over 25.2 innings on the hill for the Green and Blue. He has struck out 23 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. He joins the likes of Mike Murray and Brady Anderson the latter of which was named Atlantic Sun Co-Pitcher of the Week for his performance at home against Bethune-Cookman on Mar. 21.

LAST TIME OUT
FGCU led for most of the game on Sunday afternoon but would ultimately come up short in the series finale as North Florida (20-11, 1-2 A-Sun) was able to rally in the late innings to overcome a four-run deficit and avoid the sweep in the first Atlantic Sun series of the season by a score of 6-5.

Josh Dye (Deland, Fla./Deland HS) made the start for the Eagles on Sunday and tossed 3.2 innings of five hit ball while allowing one run and striking out one. He would not factor in the decision. The lefty would turn the ball over to Jordan Desguin who worked 1.2 innings in relief after tossing a complete game at Miami on Wednesday night. Garrett Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto HS) would take the loss after giving up the go-ahead run in the eighth.

Tyler Selesky (Estero, Fla./Estero HS) stayed hot at the plate, going 3-5 with a run scored while both Nick Rivera and Colton Bottomley (Parkland, Fla./Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS) collected two hits and a pair of RBI to pace the offense for the Green and Blue. Matt Reardon (Palm City, Fla./Martin County) went 1-4 and has now reached base safely in 21-straight games. The only other Eagle to collect multiple hits was Brady Anderson who went 2-4 with a run out of the DH spot. Preseason All-American Jake Noll (Punta Gorda, Fla./Charlotte HS) went 1-4 at the plate with two runs.

NEXT UP
The marquee road series of the year will be a brief, midweek stop at No. 8 Florida State (23-7, 9-3 ACC) Apr. 7, 8. FSU closed the 2014 campaign with a 43-17 record and a 21-9 mark in the ACC resulting in the No. 10 RPI in the nation at the end of the year. The Seminoles would advance to the NCAA Regional but no further. FGCU battled FSU on the road last season just once and led late before going down 8-3. The Eagles are 1-6 all-time opposite FSU with the lone victory coming during the 2012 season.

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 448-252-3 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.