FORT MYERS, Fla. – Winners of three of four games to open the season, the FGCU baseball team (3-1) welcomes Eastern Michigan (1-3) to Swanson Stadium for the first time in program history Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. as part of the team's 2017 Florida swing.
 
The Green and Blue will send lanky left hander Josh Dye (DeLand, Fla./DeLand HS) to the mound after tossing 3.0 perfect innings in game two of last Saturday's doubleheader. Eastern Michigan's starter is still to be determined.
 
Single game and season tickets for games contested at Swanson Stadium can be purchased by visiting FGCUTickets.com or calling 239-590-7145. Those unable to make it to Swanson Stadium can track Wednesday's action on Stat Broadcast. With rain in Wednesday's forecast, please follow @FGCU_Baseball on Twitter for up-to-the minute updates throughout the day.

THE MATCHUP
FGCU founding head coach Dave Tollett has posted a 493-297-3 all-time record in his 15th season as the Eagles' skipper. Tollett has guided the Eagles to four ASUN Regular Season Championships and has earned an equal amount of ASUN Coach of the Year awards. Wednesday night, he will coach opposite Eastern Michigan's Mark Van Ameyde, who is in his third season as the head coach and has gone 44-74. Van Ameyde also served as an assistant coach on the Eagles' staff during the 2008 season.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Eastern Michigan opened its season with a four-game series versus SEC-foe Missouri and dropped three of four games against the Tigers. The Eagles opened the series contested in Fort Myers' City of Palms Park with a 6-2 win, but dropped the final three games by a combined score of 40-16, including a 27-9 loss in game one of Saturday's doubleheader.
 
Offensively, senior John Montgomery has started the season on a tear for the Eagles as he went 6-for-13 (.462) with four runs, two doubles and four RBI in four games against Missouri. Additionally, teammates Brennan Williams and Drake Peggs are off to hot starts as they each hit .400 against the Tigers.
 
On the mound, Caleb Hester, Matthew Beaton and Sam Delaplane pitched a combined 8.0 innings out of the bullpen and didn't allow an earned run. As a team, though, the Eagles struggled with its command as the staff issued 28 walks to its 25 strikeouts in the four-game set.
 
MILESTONE IN SIGHT
After securing three wins last weekend, Tollett currently stands seven wins shy of hitting the 500-win milestone. Tollett has recorded 30 or more wins in 11 of his 14 seasons, including a program record 41 wins in 2006. He has led the Eagles to a winning mark in conference play in eight of nine seasons in the ASUN and would join Kennesaw State's Mike Sansing and UNF's Smoke Laval as the only active head coaches in the league with 500 or more wins.

FAST STARTS FOR FRESH FACES
A trio of FGCU newcomers led the way opening weekend as freshman Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) and Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) along with Junior College transfer Julio Gonzalez (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/Seminole State College (OK)/Brito Miami Private HS) each hit over .425 for the series.
 
Coffers and Gonzalez played and started in all four contests and hit .444 and .429, respectively. Garcia came off the bench as a defensive replacement in game one of Saturday's doubleheader and went on to earn ASUN Baseball Player of the Week honors, becoming the first freshman in program history to do so. Garcia went 4-for-9 (.444) and hit the go-ahead, three-run home run in the sixth inning of FGCU's comeback win Saturday. In only nine at-bats on the weekend, he wound up leading the conference with seven RBI.
 
Gonzalez hit a three-run blast of his own in the same inning as Garcia to cut FGCU's six run deficit in half. At the end of the weekend, he ranked tied for second in the league in runs (five), hits (six) and RBI (five). Meanwhile, Coffers led the league with eight hits and ranked tied for second in runs (five) and tied for sixth in RBI (four). After starting the weekend 0-for-5, Coffers closed out the last three games 8-for-13 with three straight multi-hit performances.
 
KKKKKKKKKKK
Junior College transfer Kutter Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla./Indian River State/Okeechobee HS) dazzled in his FGCU debut Sunday afternoon as he struck out 11 batters and allowed one run on two hits with two walks in 6.0 innings pitched. En route to his 11 strikeouts, which were the most by a FGCU pitcher since 2015, Crawford recorded his first six outs of the game via the punchout and allowed only two base runners entering the sixth inning.
 
TALE OF TWO SERIES
After allowing 17 runs and issuing 10 walks in the first 15 innings of its series versus Sacred Heart, the FGCU pitching staff turned things around in a big way as it allowed only five runs with five walks in the remaining 21 frames of the four-game set.
 
With Sterling Koerner (Fort Pierce, Fla./John Carroll HS) pitching the final 5.2 innings in game one of Saturday's doubleheader, the Eagles' combination of Dye and Kenton Hering (Melbourne, Fla./Eastern Florida State/Viera HS) retired the first 17 batters they faced in the nightcap and combined to strike out nine Pioneers while not allowing a walk. The following day, Crawford and Garrett Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto County HS) went the distance in the series finale and struck out 13 batters while issuing only two walks.  
 
HE'S BAAACCCKKK
As the ASUN Preseason All-Conference Honors and Awards were announced at the end of January, redshirt senior designated hitter Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) found his name appear on the All-Conference Team for the third straight season. In his first game back since Mar. 15, 2016, the hometown slugger went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning against Sacred Heart. A 2015 Louisville Slugger All-American, Rivera drove in a Division I program record 70 RBI to go along with a career-high 10 home runs and .347 average in his junior campaign. Following the 2015 season, he was selected by the Houston Astros in the 38th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft.

CONFERENCE DOMINANCE
Since joining the ASUN in 2008, FGCU has not only won more regular season conference championships (four) than any other member of the ASUN, but has also won more overall and league games than any other conference opponent. The following is list of overall and conference records for teams that have competed in the ASUN since 2008.
 

No.	School	Overall	A-Sun
1.	FGCU (2008-present)	301-213-1	162-83 (.661)
2.	UNF (2008-present)	288-222	132-108 (.550)
3.	Kennesaw State (2008-present)	272-245	143-95 (.601)
4.	Stetson (2008-present)	268-266	132-111 (.543)
5.	Lipscomb (2008-present)	255-270	124-118 (.512)
6.	Jacksonville (2008-present)	245-266	119-122 (.494)
7.	Mercer (2008-14)	243-156	115-82 (.584)
8.	ETSU (2008-14)	197-201	88-110 (.444)
9.	USC Upstate (2008-present)	195-298	82-156 (.345)
10.	Belmont (2008-12)	158-139	78-68 (.534)
11.	Campbell (2008-11)	93-125	31-85 (.267)
12.	NKU (2013-15)	39-118	14-61 (.187)
13.	Gardner-Webb (2008)	29-30	15-18 (.455)
14.	NJIT (2016)	18-38	2-18 (.100)

 
CLIMBING THE RANKS
Rivera has already made his mark in FGCU program history as he not only holds the career record for doubles with 63, but also ranks in the top-10 in program history in a number of other offensive categories. The Cape Coral native ranks third in home runs (27) and RBI (162), fifth in games started (186) and total bases (367), tied for sixth in games played (191), seventh in hits (219), ninth in runs scored (130) and 10th in on-base percentage (.434). Additionally, his 63 doubles are good for T-10th among active NCAA players.

CAREER GAMES PLAYED

1.	Josh Upchurch (2006-09)	216
2.	Mikel Alvarez (2008-11)	214
3.	Stephen Wickens (2008-11)	205
4.	Tyler Selesky (2013-16)	199
5.	Colton Bottomley (2013-16)	195
6.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	191
	Mike Reeves (2010-13)	191

CAREER GAMES STARTED

1.	Josh Upchurch (2006-09)	216
2.	Mikel Alvarez (2008-11)	212
3.	Stephen Wickens (2008-11)	204
4.	Colton Bottomley (2013-16)	191
5.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	186

CAREER ON-BASE PERCENTAGE      

1.	David Cox (2003)	.495
2.	Chris Brown (2003-04)	.493
3.	Ian Manson (2005-06)	.484
4.	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	.475
5.	Jason Peacock (2007-08)	.474
6.	Chris Perry (2003-06)	.450
7.	Jason Cooper (2003-05)	.449
8.	Mikel Alvarez (2008-11)	.447
9.	Josh Upchurch (2006-09)	.439
10.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	.434

CAREER HITS

1.	Mikel Alvarez (2008-11)	316
2.	Josh Upchurch (2006-09)	311
3.	Jake Noll (2013-16)	267
4.	Stephen Wickens (2008-11)	259
5.	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	247
6.	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	241
7.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	219

CAREER RUNS SCORED

1.	Josh Upchurch (2006-09)	237
2.	Mikel Alvarez (2008-11)	202
3.	Stephen Wickens (2008-11)	178
4.	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	158
5.	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	156
6.	Jake Noll (2013-16)	151
7.	Tyler Selesky (2013-16)	137
8.	Chris Perry (2003-06)	134
9.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	130

CAREER RBI

1.	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	180
	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	180
3.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	162

CAREER HOME RUNS

1.	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	41
2.	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	40
3.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	27

CAREER TOTAL BASES

1.	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	418
	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	418
3.	Josh Upchurch (2006-09)	412
4.	Mikel Alvarez (2008-11)	400
5.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	367

 
Like Rivera, Anderson and Koerner also make their way up the list of a number of top-10 career pitching records, while Dye also makes the list in fewest walks per 9.0 innings pitched.

CAREER APPEARANCES

1.	J.J. Crumbley (2005-08)	86
2.	RJ Brown (2010-13)	82
3.	Brady Anderson (2012-present)	76
4.	Sterling Koerner (2014-present)	70
5.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	68

CAREER SAVES

1.	J.J. Crumbley (2005-08)	14
2.	Brady Anderson (2012-16)	11
3.	Jack Wagoner (2010-11)	9
	Harrison Wagoner (2011-13)	9
5.	Sterling Koerner (2014-present)	7
	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	7

 
CAREER GAMES FINISHED

1.	J.J. Crumbley (2005-08)	51
2.	Sterling Koerner (2014-present)	33
3.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	30

 
CAREER FEWEST WALKS PER 9.0 IP

1.	Sterling Koerner (2014-present)	1.15
2.	Josh Dye (2015-present)	1.22
3.	Jason Short (2003-05)	1.42
4.	Michael Murray (2013-15)	1.46
5.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	1.58

RECEIVING VOTES
For the fourth consecutive year, FGCU was receiving votes in Collegiate Baseball's Fabulous 40 NCAA Division I Preseason Poll. The ASUN was represented by four teams as defending regular season champion Kennesaw State, UNF and Lipscomb were also receiving votes. Additionally, as the ASUN Preseason Honors and Awards were released in January, the Green and Blue were chosen to finish tied for fourth in the ASUN Preseason Coaches Poll. The Eagles garnered 35 points, matching Jacksonville's total. Lipscomb led the way with 59 points and six first-place votes and were followed by UNF and Kennesaw State with 52 and 51 points, respectively, and one first-place vote apiece.
 
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 14 seasons 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.