FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU baseball team (3-1) responded from a season-opening loss Friday night and won the final three games of the series versus Sacred Heart (1-3), capped off by a 5-1 win against the Pioneers Sunday afternoon at Swanson Stadium.
Junior College transfer
Kutter Crawford (1-0, 1.50) shined in his FGCU debut as the right hander allowed one run on two hits with two walks and 11 strikeouts over 6.0 innings pitched.
Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla./Indian River State/Okeechobee HS) struck out seven of the first eight batters he faced, and his 11 strikeouts were the most since Michael Murray also struck out 11 batters on a pair of occasions during the 2015 season.
Matt Reardon (Palm City, Fla./Martin County HS) and
Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) drove in four of the Eagles' five runs. Reardon got FGCU on the scoreboard with a two-RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, while Garcia extended the Green and Blue's lead with a two-RBI double in the three-run seventh.
"Kutter was excellent," said FGCU head coach
Dave Tollett. "Any time you strike out 11 in six innings, that takes a little pressure off the defense. If this is the Kutter we're going to get every weekend, we're going to be ok. If you take three of four, it's a good weekend. Especially to come from behind in game two and win, it kind of set the tempo after Friday night. We have a tough one against Eastern Michigan Wednesday, but I like where we are right now."
After both teams got off to a slow start offensively, FGCU struck first in the bottom of the fourth. A hit by pitch, bunt single and error loaded the bases for the Green and Blue, when Reardon stepped to the plate and hit a two-RBI single right back up the middle off Sacred Heart started James Taubl (0-1, 1.29), who suffered the loss. The Eagles had a chance to do more damage, but left the bases loaded for the second time in the game.
Sacred Heart cut the FGCU lead in half as it manufactured a run in the sixth. Crawford had allowed only two bases entering the inning, but the Pioneers took advantage of a leadoff walk followed by a sacrifice bunt and drove in a run. Three-hole hitter Keith Klebart did the damage on a one-out single to left field, scoring Austin Markmann.
With
Garrett Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto County HS) entering the game in relief in the seventh and holding Sacred Heart in check for the final three innings, FGCU was able to extend its lead to the eventual final score of 5-1. A leadoff single from Reardon, error and walk allowed the Eagles to load the bases for the third time in the game, and Garcia was able to take advantage as he laced a two-RBI double down the left field line. After
Julio Gonzalez (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/Seminole State College (OK)/Miami Brito Private HS) was intentionally walked to again load the bases,
Spencer Levine (Miami, Fla./Seminole State College/Miami Killian Senior HS) drew a walk to bring in the final run of the game.
Offensively, freshman
Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) recorded his second three-hit game of the weekend and capped of the series with a team-high eight hits. Reardon also turned in multiple hits for the second time in four games.
UP NEXT
FGCU hosts Eastern Michigan for a midweek matchup Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 6:30 p.m. The game will mark the first time in program history the two teams have squared off.
2017 SCHEDULE
The Eagles' schedule features eight teams that participated in the 2016 NCAA Baseball Tournament including a pair of College World Series participants in preseason #2 Florida and preseason #8 Miami along with Super Regional participant and preseason #3 FSU. The five remaining NCAA Tournament teams include defending Big Ten Tournament Champion Ohio State, defending ASUN Tournament Champion Stetson, defending CAA Champion UNC Wilmington, defending C-USA Champion FAU and defending MEAC Tournament Champion Bethune-Cookman. Twenty-six of FGCU's first 30 games will be contested in Southwest Florida with 24 games scheduled to be played at Swanson Stadium and two additional games at JetBlue Park, the Spring Training home of the Boston Red Sox. From Feb. 24 through Mar. 15, the Eagles are scheduled to play 13 consecutive games against five of the aforementioned NCAA Tournament teams.
TICKETS
Single game and season ticket packages for the 2017 FGCU baseball season are now on sale. Season tickets for games contested at Swanson Stadium can be purchased for $99, while single game tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for youth (12 and under), military and groups. For questions or more information, please contact the FGCU Ticket Office at 239-590-7145. Additonally, tickets for games versus preseason #2 Florida and preseason #3 FSU can be purchased online by clicking
here or by calling the JetBlue Park Ticket Office at 239-334-4700.
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.
DAVE TOLLETT
In his 15th season of work, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 493-297-3 record (.622) as the only head coach in the program's history. He is a four-time ASUN Coach of the Year and has guided the Green and Blue to four ASUN Regular Season Championships. His team has been ranked nationally on several occasions by multiple media outlets and has coached 42 All-Conference selections, 27 draft picks, three current major leaguers, 19 current minor leaguers, four ASUN Pitchers of the Year, four All-Americans, two ASUN Players of the Year, one National Freshman Player of the Year, one National Player of the Year and one five-time MLB All-Star.
#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.
