FORT MYERS, Fla. – Winners of six in a row and off to its second-best start in Division I program history, the #24 FGCU baseball team (10-2) squares off with #2 Florida (10-2) in a pair of midweek matchups.
 
Game one is scheduled for Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and will be played in JetBlue Park, the Spring Training home of the Boston Red Sox. The two teams will then travel north to Gainesville for game two to be played in Alfred A. McKethan Stadium at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
 
FGCU right hander Mario Leon (0-1, 4.91) is slated to take the mound Tuesday evening opposite Florida righty Michael Byrne (1-1, 1.93). Both the Eagles and Gators starters in game two Wednesday are to be determined.
 
Fans can follow Tuesday's action on Stat Broadcast or by listening to the radio broadcast on the Gators IMG Sports Network during both games. Game two Wednesday evening in Gainesville can be tracked on Sidearm Stats or the broadcast can be found on SEC Network +.

THE MATCHUP
FGCU founding head coach Dave Tollett has posted a 500-298-3 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. This week, he matches up with Florida head coach Kevin O'Sullivan, who has posted a 406-191 record in his 10th season with the program while leading the Gators to five College World Series appearances since 2010.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Florida holds a 12-5 advantage in the all-time series between the two teams that dates back to the 2008 season. The Gators have won all three games contested in Fort Myers and are 9-5 in games played in Gainesville. FGCU opened last season with a three-game series in Alfred A. McKethan Stadium and was swept by Florida. However, in a three-game series in 2013, the Green and Blue left Gainesville with a three-game sweep of the homestanding Gators. Florida has won five straight in the series with FGCU's last win coming on Feb. 27, 2014.
 
SCOUTING THE GATORS
Like the Eagles, Florida is off to a 10-2 start this season and has swept all three of its weekend series against William & Mary, Miami and Columbia. However, the Gators have been vulnerable in the midweek as they are 1-2 with losses against Jacksonville and UCF.
 
Offensively, the Gators have posted a .261 team average are led by freshman Keenan Bell's .444 average in seven games this season. Sophomores Nelson Maldonado and Blake Reese are also off to hot starts with a .333 average in 11 and eight games played, respectively. Jonathan India has been the team's top power bat with a pair of home runs and 10 RBI.  
 
Florida has once again been impressive on the bump as the team has posted a 2.62 staff ERA. Junior left hander Nick Horvath has been the club's most-used arm out of the bullpen as he has made six appearances and allowed only one earned run in 5.1 innings pitched.
 
LAST TIME OUT
FGCU went into Wilmington, N.C., for a three-game series against preseason #23 UNC Wilmington and left the Tar Heel State with its first road sweep since 2014. The Eagles never trailed in games two and three and defeated the homestanding Seahawks by scores of 5-3, 5-1 and 10-1 in the series finale.
 
As a pitching staff, FGCU held the eighth-ranked offense from a season ago to only five runs. The Eagles three starters, Garrett Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto County HS), Kutter Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla./Indian River State/Okeechobee HS) and Josh Dye (DeLand, Fla./DeLand HS), went a combined 18.1 innings and allowed only two earned runs. Crawford and Dye improved to 3-0 with their wins are saw their ERAs drop below 2.00.
 
Offensively, Corey Fehribach (Douglasville, Ga./West Georgia CC/Alexander HS) matched a career high with a pair of three-hit performances and went 7-for-11 (.636) with three doubles and four RBI in the series. Julio Gonzalez (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/Seminole State College (OK)/Brito Miami Private HS) recorded four hits and drove in a pair of runs, while Jake Smith (Windermere, Fla./Windermere Prep) also collected four hits, including a home run, and drove in three.
 
500-WIN CLUB
Tollett became the ASUN's newest member of the 500-win club as FGCU capped off its weekend sweep at UNC Wilmington Sunday, Mar. 5. 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 joins Kennesaw State's Mike Sansing and UNF's Smoke Laval as the only active head coaches in the league with 500 or more wins. Lipscomb coach Jeff Forehand is right on Tollett's heels as he entered the season with a 487 careers wins and has the Bisons off to a 7-4 start in 2017.
 
IN THE RANKINGS
After winning each of its three weekend series and starting the season 10-2, the Eagles appeared at #24 in Collegiate Baseball's latest national poll released Monday afternoon. It marks the first time since 2013 that FGCU has appeared in the national rankings. Additionally, the Green and Blue also appeared at #21 in the NCAA's first installment of its RPI rankings this season. FGCU is ranked among the likes of defending national champion Coastal Carolina and perennial powerhouses Vanderbilt and Cal State Fullerton.
 
TOUGH STRETCH AHEAD
FGCU's three-game series with Bethune-Cookman from Feb. 24-26 began a stretch of 13 straight games against 2016 NCAA Tournament teams. After defeating FAU in the midweek and sweeping UNC Wilmington last weekend, the Eagles are 7-1 in its first eight games of the torrid stretch. Beginning with the midweek matchup against FAU, the Green and Blue will play in 10 consecutive games against teams that entered the 2016 postseason as either #1 or #2 seeds.
 
NCAA ACTIVE LEADER
In his final season with the Green and Blue, redshirt senior designated hitter Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) continues to not only climb FGCU's all-time records, but also ranks among the top-five in active NCAA players in a number of offensive categories. Rivera leads the nation in career doubles (64), RBI (166), walks (130) and total bases (381) while ranking tied for the lead in games played (199). He also ranks third in at bats (720) and fourth in hits (226).

ASUN PITCHER OF THE WEEK
After tossing 7.0 shutout innings against UNC Wilmington last Saturday, Crawford has been named the ASUN Pitcher of the Week. The junior right hander held last year's eighth-ranked offense to only six hits and struck out seven batters without issuing a walk. The award was the first of the season and career for the right hander, and it marks FGCU's first Pitcher of the Week award since former hurlers Brady Anderson and Michael Murray took home the honor in 2015. It also marks the second weekly recognition for the Green and Blue this season as freshman infielder Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) was named the ASUN Player of the Week after opening weekend.

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)	308-214-1	162-83 (.661)
2.	UNF (2008-present)	294-225	132-108 (.550)
3.	Kennesaw State (2008-present)	277-248	143-95 (.601)
4.	Stetson (2008-present)	274-270	132-111 (.543)
5.	Lipscomb (2008-present)	260-273	124-118 (.512)
6.	Jacksonville (2008-present)	249-271	119-122 (.494)
7.	Mercer (2008-14)	243-156	115-82 (.584)
8.	USC Upstate (2008-present)	200-303	82-156 (.345)
9.	ETSU (2008-14)	197-201	88-110 (.444)
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)	19-43	2-18 (.100)

 
CLIMBING THE RANKS
Along with his aforementioned NCAA active ranks, Rivera has already made his mark in FGCU program history as he not only holds the career record for doubles, 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 (29) and RBI, fourth in games started (191), tied for fourth in games played, fifth in total bases, seventh in hits and eighth in runs scored (136).

CAREER GAMES PLAYED

1.	Josh Upchurch (2006-09)	216
2.	Mikel Alvarez (2008-11)	214
3.	Stephen Wickens (2008-11)	205
4.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	199
	Tyler Selesky (2013-16)	199

CAREER GAMES STARTED

1.	Josh Upchurch (2006-09)	216
2.	Mikel Alvarez (2008-11)	212
3.	Stephen Wickens (2008-11)	204
4.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	194

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)	226

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.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	136

CAREER RBI

1.	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	180
	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	180
3.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	166

CAREER HOME RUNS

1.	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	41
2.	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	40
3.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	29

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)	381

 
Like Rivera, senior pitchers Anderson 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 tops 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)	73
5.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	70

CAREER SAVES

1.	J.J. Crumbley (2005-08)	14
2.	Brady Anderson (2012-16)	11
3.	Sterling Koerner (2014-present)	10
4.	Jack Wagoner (2010-11)	9
	Harrison Wagoner (2011-13)	9
6.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	8

 
CAREER GAMES FINISHED

1.	J.J. Crumbley (2005-08)	51
2.	Sterling Koerner (2014-present)	36
3.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	31

 
CAREER FEWEST WALKS PER 9.0 IP

1.	Josh Dye (2015-present)	1.06
2.	Sterling Koerner (2014-present)	1.17
3.	Jason Short (2003-05)	1.42
4.	Michael Murray (2013-15)	1.46
5.	Jordan Desguin (2015)	1.60
6.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	1.73

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 500-298-3 record (.624) 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.