FORT MYERS, Fla. – Currently riding a four-game win streak and having won four of five to start the season, the FGCU baseball team (4-1) faces a quick turnaround following its midweek win against Eastern Michigan and hosts in-state foe Bethune-Cookman (3-0) for a three-game series at Swanson Stadium this weekend. Game one of the weekend set is scheduled to begin Friday at 6:30 p.m. and will be followed by game two Saturday at 2 p.m. and the series finale Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
FGCU will send right hander Kenton Hering (1-0, 1.80) to the mound in the series opener opposite Bethune-Cookman righty Tyler Norris (0-0, 0.00). Last weekend's headliner Kutter Crawford (1-0, 1.50) will take the mound Saturday to square off with Donte Lindsay (0-0, 7.36), while southpaw Josh Dye (1-0, 3.00) will toe the rubber in the finale against right hander Anthony Maldonado (1-0, 0.00).
 
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 this weekend's action on Stat Broadcast by clicking the links above.

THE MATCHUP
FGCU founding head coach Dave Tollett has posted a 494-297-3 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. This weekend, Tollett matches up with Bethune-Cookman skipper Jason Beverlin (146-152), who is in his sixth season with the Wildcats. Beverlin has taken Bethune-Cookman to three NCAA Regionals appearances in 2012, 2014 and 2016.   

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Bethune-Cookman is coming off an impressive opening weekend as the Wildcats swept 2016 Super Regional participant Boston College in Daytona Beach, Fla., last weekend. Bethune-Cookman ended up on the right side of a trio of one-run games as they defeated the Eagles 2-1, 6-5 and 3-2 in the series.
 
Offensively, junior infielder Jameel Edney leads the way for the Wildcats as he went 6-for-10 with two runs scores, two doubles and one triple in the season-opening series. Senior first baseman Austin Garcia is the team's top run producer as he drove in three runs and went 5-for-12 against Boston College.
 
Alongside the aforementioned weekend rotation, junior pitcher Ivan Coutinho is the Wildcats' top arm out of the bullpen as he made a pair of appearances and pitched 2.0 perfect innings while earning a save against the visiting Eagles last weekend.
 
LAST TIME OUT
FGCU scored in each of the first four innings and led from start to finish in its 12-5 win against Eastern Michigan Wednesday night. Senior designated hitter Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to get the Eagles off to an early lead. It was Rivera's second home run of the season and 28th of his FGCU career.
 
After Eastern Michigan cut the lead to one in the top of the second, the Eagles added runs in each of the next three frames to extend the lead to 8-2 and added four more runs with two outs in the seventh inning to reach its 12-run total.
 
Junior catcher Spencer Levine (Miami, Fla./Seminole State College/Miami Killian Senior HS) broke through with a big night at the plate as he went 3-for-4 with two runs, two doubles and three RBI to pace the FGCU offense. Additionally, Matt Reardon (Palm City, Fla./Martin County HS) matched Levine's three hits and has now recorded two or more hits in back-to-back games and three times this season.
 
On the mound, Dye (DeLand, Fla./DeLand HS) made his second start of the season and earned the win after tossing a predetermined 3.0 innings and allowing two runs on four hits with one strikeout. A slew of other Eagles pitchers saw actions Wednesday night, including the debut of southpaw Ryan Ahern (Venice, Fla./State College of Florida/Venice HS), who struck out the only batter he faced. Redshirt junior right hander Parker Hamilton (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter HS) also made his season debut for FGCU and closed the game out with a near-perfect ninth.
 
MILESTONE IN SIGHT
After securing four wins already this season, Tollett currently stands six 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.

ASUN PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Freshman infielder Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) became the first freshman in program history to be named the ASUN Player of the Week earlier this week. A defensive replacement in the fifth inning in game one of last Saturday's doubleheader, Garcia hit the go-ahead, three-run home run to bring FGCU back from a 6-0 deficit and defeat Sacred Heart, 13-8. His two-RBI double in the seventh inning of the series finale against the Pioneers was also pivotal in FGCU's 5-1 win to clinch the series. In only nine at-bats last weekend, he drove in two more runs than anyone else in the conference (seven).
 
RUN PRODUCERS
Not only does FGCU have 13 more RBI than any other team in the conference to this point in the season with 41, but six Eagles currently rank in the top-nine of the category thru five games. Garcia, Levine and Julio Gonzalez (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/Seminole State College (OK)/Brito Miami Private HS) have each driven in seven runs and are tied with Kennesaw State's Taylor Allum for the conference lead. Right behind them, Eli Lovell (Lincoln, Neb./Kansas City Kansas CC/Lincoln Southwest HS) ranks fifth in the league with six RBI, while Rivera and Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) are tied with two others for sixth in the league with five RBI.
 
KKKKKKKKKKK
Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla./Indian River State/Okeechobee HS) dazzled in his FGCU debut last 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.
 
HE'S BAAACCCKKK
As the ASUN Preseason All-Conference Honors and Awards were announced at the end of January, Rivera 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. He followed his season-opening performance with another long ball and three RBI in the Eagles' 12-5 win against Eastern Michigan Wednesday night. 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)	302-213-1	162-83 (.661)
2.	UNF (2008-present)	288-223	132-108 (.550)
3.	Kennesaw State (2008-present)	273-245	143-95 (.601)
4.	Stetson (2008-present)	269-266	132-111 (.543)
5.	Lipscomb (2008-present)	256-270	124-118 (.512)
6.	Jacksonville (2008-present)	246-266	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)	196-298	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 (28) and RBI (165), fifth in games started (187) and total bases (371), sixth in games played (192), seventh in hits (220), ninth in runs scored (131) and 10th in on-base percentage (.433). 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)	192

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)	187

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)	.433

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)	220

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)	131

CAREER RBI

1.	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	180
	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	180
3.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	165

CAREER HOME RUNS

1.	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	41
2.	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	40
3.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	28

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)	371

 
Like Rivera, senior pitchers Garrett Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto County HS) and Sterling Koerner (Fort Pierce, Fla./John Carroll HS) 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
	Josh Dye (2015-present)	1.15
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.