FORT MYERS, Fla. – Off to its best start to a season since 2013, the FGCU baseball team (6-2) welcomes in-state rival FAU (4-1-1) to Swanson Stadium for a midweek showdown with the visiting Owls. First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and fans are encouraged to wear green as the contest has been deemed a Greenout by FGCU Athletics Marketing.
 
The Green and Blue will send redshirt junior right hander Mario Leon (0-1, 2.70) to the mound to make his second start of the season opposite FAU left hander Sean Labsan (0-0, 9.00).
 
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 Tuesday's action on Stat Broadcast. FAU will also have a free radio broadcast available on the FAU Athletics YouTube page.

THE MATCHUP
FGCU founding head coach Dave Tollett has posted a 496-298-3 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. Tuesday night, Tollett matches up with FAU head coach John McCormack, who has gone 286-183-1 in his ninth season with the program and has led the Owls to four NCAA Regionals since 2010.

SERIES HISTORY
FGCU holds a 10-6 advantage in the all-time series against in-state rival FAU. The Green and Blue won the first four meetings in the series that started back in 2008, but the two teams have split the last 12 games since then. Most recently, the Eagles and Owls squared off in a home-and-home series a year ago with both home teams emerging victorious. FGCU defeated then #16 FAU in an extra-inning thriller, 3-2, at Swanson Stadium, before FAU exacted revenge with a 5-2 win in its home ballpark the following week.
 
SCOUTING THE OWLS
FAU is off to a 4-1-1 start to the season after sweeping Monmouth in the season opener and splitting three games against Indiana last weekend. The Owls and Hoosiers split games one and two before tying the series finale, 6-6, in 11 innings. The visiting Hoosiers had a flight to catch and the game was called due to time constraints.
 
A season ago, FAU won the C-USA Regular Season Championship and entered the Coral Gables Regional as the #2 seed. The Owls dropped game one against Long Beach State, 5-1, before defeating ASUN Tournament Champion Stetson, 8-4, the following day. In a rematch with Long Beach State, The Dirtbags again emerged victorious, 5-1, and ended FAU's season.
 
Offensively, the Owls are led by sophomore infielder Tyler Frank, who is hitting .613 with 11 runs, four doubles, three home runs and 12 RBI in six games this season. Frank currently ranks second in the country in hits and sixth in average. Additionally, senior infielders Stephen Kerr and Esteban Puerta are hitting .385 or higher with two and three home runs, respectively. Puerta has driven in a team-high 13 runs.
 
On the mound, right-handed relievers Drew Peden and Kyle Marman have been FAU's most reliable arms out of the bullpen with three and two appearances, respectively. Neither has allowed an earned run, while Peden has struck out eight batters in 4.2 innings pitched.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Green and Blue dropped the series opener for the second straight weekend but responded to win the final two games against Bethune-Cookman – handing the Wildcats its first two losses of the year. Sunday's win marked the first time since 2014 the Eagles have won the first two series of the season.
 
Junior catcher Spencer Levine (Miami, Fla./Seminole State College/Miami Killian Senior HS) turned in a big week from the plate and went 4-for-9 with four runs scored, one home run and four RBI against Bethune-Cookman. Freshman infielder Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) got hot at the end of the series as he went 5-for-8 with three runs, one double and one RBI, while Gage Morey (West Palm Beach, Fla./PB Central HS) went 3-for-7 with three runs and four RBI in the three-game set.
 
Junior right hander Kutter Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla./Indian River State/Okeechobee HS) earned his second win in as many starts to begin his FGCU career as he allowed four runs (two earned) with nine strikeouts in Saturday's comeback win. Crawford has now struck out 20 batters in 12.0 innings pitched. Additionally, redshirt sophomore Josh Dye (DeLand, Fla./DeLand HS) earned his second win of the week after tossing a career-high 6.0 innings and allowing one run in the Eagles' series-clinching win.
 
MILESTONE IN SIGHT
After securing six 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.
 
TOUGH STRETCH AHEAD
FGCU's three-game series with Bethune-Cookman began a stretch of 13 straight games against 2016 NCAA Tournament teams. Starting with FAU tomorrow night, the Eagles will play in 10 consecutive games against teams that entered the 2016 postseason as either #1 or #2 seeds.

ASUN PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Garcia became the first freshman in program history to be named the ASUN Player of the Week as he took home the honor on Feb. 20. A defensive replacement in the fifth inning in game one of FGCU's doubleheader on Feb. 18, 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 opening weekend, he drove in two more runs than anyone else in the conference (seven).
 
HE'S BAAACCCKKK
As the ASUN Preseason All-Conference Honors and Awards were announced at the end of January, redshirt senior designate 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. He followed his season-opening performance with another long ball and three RBI in the Eagles' 12-5 win against Eastern Michigan on Feb. 22. 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)	304-214-1	162-83 (.661)
2.	UNF (2008-present)	290-225	132-108 (.550)
3.	Kennesaw State (2008-present)	275-246	143-95 (.601)
4.	Stetson (2008-present)	272-267	132-111 (.543)
5.	Lipscomb (2008-present)	258-271	124-118 (.512)
6.	Jacksonville (2008-present)	248-267	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)	198-299	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-present)	19-40	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 64, 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 (190) and total bases (374), tied for fifth in games played (195), seventh in hits (222) and ninth in runs scored (131). Additionally, his 64 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.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	195
	Colton Bottomley (2013-16)	195

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)	190

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)	222

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)	374

 
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)	71
5.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	69

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)	8
	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	8

 
CAREER GAMES FINISHED

1.	J.J. Crumbley (2005-08)	51
2.	Sterling Koerner (2014-present)	34
3.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	31

 
CAREER FEWEST WALKS PER 9.0 IP

1.	Sterling Koerner (2014-present)	1.14
2.	Josh Dye (2015-present)	1.18
3.	Jason Short (2003-05)	1.42
4.	Michael Murray (2013-15)	1.46
5.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	1.55

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 15 seasons of work, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 496-298-3 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.