GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The FGCU baseball team begins the 2016 season with a great opportunity in front of them as they travel to Gainesville, Fla., for a three-game series against the No. 1 Florida Gators. The series opener at Alfred A. McKethan Stadium is scheduled to begin Friday at 7 p.m., with game two taking place Saturday at 4 p.m. followed by the series finale Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
"I think it's a great opportunity to go up and play the No. 1 team in the country," said FGCU head coach Dave Tollett. "We've been there before. We know what a win up there does for us not only in the recruiting process, but also in the overall morale of the program. To come back from Gainesville with a win would be great."
 
SCOUTING THE GATORS
Coming off a College World Series semifinal appearance, Florida enters the 2016 season ranked No. 1 in the country in six major college baseball polls – Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, D1 Baseball, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), Perfect Game and USA Today. Led by a quintet of preseason All-Americans in junior pitchers A.J. Puk and Logan Shore, junior outfielder Buddy Reed, junior first baseman Peter Alonso and sophomore catcher JJ Schwarz, the Gators present a balanced attack both offensively and defensively.
 
Florida posted a 52-18 (27-13 SEC) record and claimed its seventh SEC Tournament title in 2015. On their way to the College World Series, the Gators blitzed the Gainesville Regional field with three-consecutive wins against Florida A&M, USF and FAU. They followed it with a two-game sweep of in-state rival FSU in the Gainesville Super Regional to advance to Omaha. After a pair of wins against in-state foe Miami sandwiched by a loss to eventual national champion Virginia, Florida faced elimination in a rematch with the Cavaliers but kept the season alive with a 10-5 win. The following day, the Gators' season ended with a 5-4 loss to UVA.
 
SERIES HISTORY
FGCU is 4-7 in 11 all-time matchups against Florida but has had some success against the Gators in Gainesville, where they have posted a 4-5 record and won four of the last five contests at McKethan Stadium. In 2013, the Eagles traveled north to face the then-No. 13 Gators and left with a series sweep after taking the first two games by 8-2 and 8-3 margins, respectively, and capping off the series with a 7-4 extra-inning victory. Most recently in Gainesville in 2014, the Eagles and Gators split a two-game series. FGCU won the opener, 2-1, while Florida took game two, 4-0.

THE MATCHUP
Entering his 14th season of work at FGCU, Tollett has compiled a 463-264-3 all-time record as the only head coach in program history. Additionally, he is a four-time A-Sun Coach of the Year and has guided the Eagles to four A-Sun Regular Season Championships. This weekend, Tollett matches up with Florida's Kevin O'Sullivan, who is 344-173 in eight seasons as the man in charge in Gainesville. Both head coaches enter the 2016 season ranked inside the top 25 of winningest active NCAA Division I coaches by percentage with O'Sullivan turning in a .665 clip and Tollett registering at .636.
 
On the mound, FGCU will send redshirt senior Brady Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto County HS) as its Friday-night starter to square off with Florida's Logan Shore. On Saturday, junior Sterling Koerner (Fort Pierce, Fla./John Carroll HS) will toe the rubber against southpaw A.J. Puk, while Mario Leon (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast HS) will face Alex Faedo in the series finale on Sunday.
 
KEY RETURNERS
Coming off a 30-26-1 season during which they made an A-Sun Championship semifinal appearance, FGCU returns a crop of experienced and talented players in 2016, including six players who earned postseason recognition from the conference. Senior Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) earned first-team recognition following a career year at the plate. Additionally, Anderson was joined by Jake Noll (Punta Gorda, Fla./Charlotte HS) and Tyler Selesky (Estero, Fla./Estero HS) on the all-conference second team, while Matt Reardon (Palm City, Fla./Martin County HS) and Zach Spivey (Ormond Beach, Fla./Spruce Creek HS) made the all-conference freshman team.
 
Rivera enters the 2016 season after being named a preseason All-American by both Louisville Slugger and the NCBWA. The Cape Coral native was also named a unanimous selection to the A-Sun Preseason All-Conference Team. Following the 2015 season during which he hit a career-best .347 while driving in a Division I program record 70 runs, Rivera was named a Louisville Slugger All-American, becoming the fourth postseason All-American honoree in FGCU program history. He joined four-time MLB All-Star Chris Sale, Mike Murray and Jake Noll as others to earn the recognition. Additionally, Rivera was selected by the Houston Astros in the 38th round of the 2015 MLB Draft, but elected to return to FGCU for his senior season and earn his degree.
 
Noll enters the 2016 campaign after being named the A-Sun Preseason Player of the Year for the second-straight season. The redshirt junior, who joined Rivera as a unanimous selection to the preseason all-conference team, hit a team-best .348 and posted a career high with 41 RBI to go along with hitting the first three home runs of his collegiate career in 2015. Additionally, in January, he was named a top-100 prospect by D1 Baseball. Noll appeared on the list of 300 as the No. 99 prospect in all of college baseball and was one of four second basemen to appear in the top 100. Not only was he the highest rated player from the A-Sun, but Noll was also one of 25 players from outside of the Power Five conferences to crack the century mark.
 
RECEIVING VOTES
For the third-consecutive year, FGCU was receiving votes in Collegiate Baseball's Fabulous 40 NCAA Division I Preseason Poll. The A-Sun was represented by four teams as defending tournament champion Lipscomb, defending regular-season champion UNF and Stetson were also receiving votes. Additionally, as the A-Sun Preseason Honors and Awards were released in January, the Green and Blue were chosen to finish runner-up to UNF in the preseason coaches poll. The Eagles garnered 50 points and received three of eight first-place votes while the Ospreys collected 58 points and four first-place votes. Lipscomb was selected third with 48 points, followed by Stetson in fourth with 43 points and the lone remaining first-place vote and Kennesaw State in fifth after receiving 37 votes. The preseason top five was separated by only 21 points. Jacksonville (28), USC Upstate (14) and conference newcomer NJIT (8) round out the poll.
 
2016 SCHEDULE
The Eagles' schedule features seven teams that participated in the 2015 NCAA Base­ball Tournament including a pair of College World Series participants, an additional Super Regional participant and three conference champions. The seven NCAA Tournament teams include CWS semifinalist, defending SEC Tournament Champion and preseason No. 1 Florida, CWS participant and preseason No. 4 Miami, Super Regional participant Illinois, defending A-Sun Tournament Champion Lipscomb, defending MEAC Tournament Champion Florida A&M and a pair of familiar in-state foes in USF and FAU. A total of 19 games, including the first eight games of the season, will be played against those seven programs.
 
NEXT UP
Following its showdown with No. 1 Florida, FGCU travels to Tampa for a mid-week matchup with USF on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m. The Bulls not only represent the Eagles' second-consecutive game against an in-state rival, but also their second-straight opponent to make the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
 
DAVE TOLLETT
In 13 seasons of work, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 463-264-3 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 39 All-Conference selections, 25 draft picks, 16 current minor leaguers, four A-Sun Pitchers of the Year, four All-Americans, one National Freshman Player of the Year, one National Player of the Year and one MLB All-Star.

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.