Apr. 17-18 vs. Kennesaw State (20-17, 5-4 A-Sun) | Stilwell Stadium | Tickets
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Probable Starters
Apr. 17 | 4 PM | Live Stats
FGCU | Mike Murray (3-4): 3.94 ERA, 59.1 IP, 67 H, 27 R, 26 ER, 8 BB, 64 SO
KSU | Jordan Hillyer (3-3): 2.73 ERA, 56.0 IP, 42 H, 27 R, 17 ER, 26 BB, 65 SO
Apr. 18 | 1 PM | Live Stats
FGCU | Brady Anderson (4-0): 3.67 ERA, 56.1 IP, 56 H, 32 R, 23 ER, 12 BB, 43 SO
KSU | Travis Bergen (4-3): 2.59 ERA, 62.2 IP, 50 H, 23 R, 18 ER, 14 BB, 62 SO
Apr. 18 | 4 PM | Live Stats
FGCU | Jordan Desguin (4-0): 2.31 ERA, 39.0 IP, 31 H, 13 R, 10 ER, 8 BB, 38 SO
KSU | Gabe Friese (3-4): 4.34 ERA, 47.2 IP, 52 H, 29 R, 23 ER, 19 BB, 38 SO
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU baseball team (19-18-1, 6-3 A-Sun) will continue Atlantic Sun play this weekend against defending tournament champion Kennesaw State (20-17, 5-4 A-Sun). The Owls advanced to the NCAA Super Regional last season and welcome the Eagles for a 4 p.m. start on Friday night before a doubleheader on Saturday which is set to begin at 1 p.m.
KENNESAW STATE
The Eagles swept the first two games of the series at Swanson Stadium last year before losing a late lead in the third game that sent Kennesaw State on an unprecedented run. The Owls finished the season with a 32-25 record and ran to the No. 3 seed in the A-Sun Tournament with an 18-13 record in the league. They would advance to their first NCAA Tournament and move on to the NCAA Super Regional before falling to Louisville. KSU would finish the season with the No. 52 RPI in the nation.
NICK RIVERA
For the second time this season, FGCU junior first baseman Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) was named the Atlantic Sun Player of the Week following another outstanding week at the plate, as announced by the conference office on Monday afternoon. The Cape Coral native guided the Eagles to a 3-2 record last week highlighted by a win on the road over No. 7 Florida State and helped secure another A-Sun series victory by taking two of three from Jacksonville at home.
Rivera went 7-13 at the dish over the final four games of the week after going 0-4 last Tuesday. He posted a .412 batting average for the week and sprayed two doubles to go with a pair of home runs, giving him a team-leading six for the season. He also drove in six runs and walked six times to build a .565 on base percentage. He would slug 1.000 or better in four of the Eagles five games, raising his season percentage to .659. His 43 RBI's rank second in the A-Sun along with his .377 batting average.
In the series finale with Jacksonville he went 3-5, scoring once and driving in three including a pair of RBI's to clinch the game in the 10th inning on a double to deep center. In the Eagles' win at Florida State last Wednesday the junior set the tone offensively for FGCU as he went 1-3 with a homerun, two RBI and a pair of runs scored.
The Eagles have now earned two A-Sun Player of the Week honors this season to go with two A-Sun Pitcher of the Week distinctions. Mike Murray (West Palm Beach, Fla./Forrest Hill HS) and Brady Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto HS) Â have earned the Pitcher of the Week honors.
HEAD COACH MATCHUP
In 13 seasons of work, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 453-255-3 record as the only head coach in the program's history. He will match up with Mike Sansing who is back for his 24th season with Kennesaw State and is the winningest head coach in the school's rich baseball history. Over his career with the Owls, Sansing has taken the Owls to seven national tournaments, including his guiding Kennesaw State to a pair of national titles, winning the 1994 NAIA title and the 1996 NCAA Division II crown.
LAST TIME OUT
FGCU was unable to complete the comeback effort on Tuesday as it would fall to No. 15 Florida Atlantic (29-8, 11-4 C-USA) by a score of 10-6. The Eagles led early but were unable to hold off the Owls who collected 15 hits and scored four runs over the final two frames to seal the deal.Â
Devin Smeltzer (Voorhees, N.J./Bishop Eustace Prep) made the start for the Green and Blue and pitched very well over the first four innings of action. He would tire in the fifth however and would ultimately finish with 4.1 innings to his credit with six runs, one walk and a four strikeouts, earning his fourth loss of 2015. A trio of relievers would finish out the night for the Eagles who would strike out nine Owls in total.
At the plate, Matt Reardon (Palm City, Fla./Martin County) was the lone Eagle to collect multiple hits, going 2-4 with a walk, a run scored and an RBI, raising his average to .301. Colton Bottomley (Parkland, Fla./Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS) picked up a pair of RBI's with a single in the third. Brady Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto HS) and Tyler Selesky (Estero, Fla./Estero HS) were the only other Eagles to get a hit. Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) and Jake Noll (Punta Gorda, Fla./Charlotte HS) combined to go 0-8. Noll's career-best 16-game hitting streak comes to an end. The Eagles are now 4-8-1 against teams ranked or receiving votes in the polls this season.
JAKE NOLL
Noll was tabbed as the Preseason Atlantic Sun Player of the Year and has certainly performed up to that billing after being named the 2014 Louisville Slugger National Freshman Player of the Year. He has posted a .349 batting average after transitioning from the leadoff spot a season ago to primarily the No. 3 and 4 spots in the lineup this year. He has collected a team-high 53 hits with 28 runs scored, five doubles, a triple, a homerun and 25 RBI while also remaining a threat on the base-paths with 13 stolen bases in 15 attempts. He is currently on a career-long 16-game hitting streak. During his two years at FGCU, Noll has built two 13 games hitting streaks and a 14-game streak earlier this season. He has gone back-to-back games without a hit on just two occasions in his career and never three games in a row.
TYLER SELESKY
The hometown kid, Selesky has been one of the most reliable individuals in the FGCU lineup this season. The Estero native has posted a .299 batting average primarily in the No. 2 spot in the lineup batting behind Reardon and ahead of Rivera. He has 41 hits this year with three doubles, a triple and 21 RBI. He has walked 24 times which ranks second on the team behind only Rivera and has an on base percentage of .415. While batting on the second spot, Selesky has had a large number of opportunities to move runners. He ranks second in the nation with 14 sacrifice hits with the majority being sacrifice bunts, seven more than the closest Eagle behind him.
FRESHMEN
FGCU has found success by leaning on a collection of freshmen this season after losing some key contributors to graduation and the MLB draft following the record-setting 2014 season. Zach Spivey (Ormond Beach, Fla./Spruce Creek HS) and Matt Reardon (Palm City, Fla./Martin County) have been the most impactful with a combined 72 starts between them. Spivey has served as the primary left fielder for the Green and Blue while Reardon has moved over to shortstop after spending the first part of the season as the second baseman. Spivey is hitting .302 in his debut campaign with six doubles and 14 RBI after driving in six runs last week including the first home run of his career while Reardon is hitting .301 in the leadoff spot with 17 RBI and five doubles. Zachary Orchard (Cambridge, Ontario/Jacob Hespeler SS) and Kyle Gilbert (Lake Mary, Fla./Seminole HS) have each been contributors in both the catcher and DH roles. Gilbert has hit .190 with four RBI in 14 starts and 26 appearances while Orchard has come on of late to hit .237 in just 10 starts.
SOPHOMORE RELIEVERS
Garrett Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto HS) and Sterling Koerner (Fort Pierce, Fla./John Carrol HS) emerged as the top arms out of the bullpen for FGCU a year ago and carried over those roles into this season as the two have combined to make 30 total appearances while Koerner has made one start. Only Mike Murray and Brady Anderson have thrown more innings than Koerner who has been brilliant in his sophomore season, tossing 43.0 frames with a 3.56 ERA and a career-high 40 strikeouts which rank third on the team against a staggeringly low three walks. The Fort Pierce native has built a 3-3 record with one save while holding opponents to a .256 mark at the plate. Garrett has produced a 3.29 ERA with a 3-3 record and an FGCU best three saves. He has collected 23 punch outs and just six walks while holding opponents to ten earned runs over 27.1 innings.
#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)Â 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 Smeltzeris 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.
ATLANTIC SUN STANDINGS
FGCU, 6-3 (19-18-1)
North Florida, 6-3 (28-12)
Stetson, 4-2 (19-19)
Kennesaw State, 5-4 (20-17)
Jacksonville, 3-3 (17-19)
USC Upstate, 4-5 (13-24)
Lipscomb, 2-4 (21-13)
Northern Kentucky, 0-6 (11-21)
*Top Six Team Advance to A-Sun Championship Tournament
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.
DAVE TOLLETT
In 12+ seasons of work, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 453-255-3 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 visitwww.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.