KENNESAW, Ga. – Jockeying for seeding in next week's ASUN Baseball Tournament, FGCU (34-17, 10-8 ASUN) squares off with Kennesaw State (23-27, 10-8 ASUN) in the final series of the regular season this weekend. Games one and two at Stillwell Baseball Stadium are scheduled for Thursday and Friday at 6 p.m. and will be followed by the series and regular season finale Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
FGCU will send right hander Kutter Crawford (5-1, 1.76) to the mound in the opener, while Josh Dye (8-3, 2.92) is scheduled to toe the rubber in game two. Kennesaw State will counter with right hander Tony Dibrell (6-3, 1.49) Thursday night and AJ Moore (4-5, 5.74) Friday. Neither team's starter in the season finale has been announced.
 
Those unable to make it up to Kennesaw, Ga., can track all three games via live stats or by watching on ESPN3.
 
#ASUNBSB CHAMPIONSHIP BOUND
After sweeping Lipscomb for the first time since 2011, FGCU punched its ticket to the ASUN Baseball Tournament for the sixth straight season. Following last weekend's action across the league, the tournament field is now set with Jacksonville (14-4), Stetson (13-5), UNF (11-7), Kennesaw State (10-8) and Lipscomb (8-10) set to join the Green and Blue in DeLand next week. Currently tied with Kennesaw State for fourth in the league, the Eagles still have a chance to move as high as No. 3 or as low as No. 6 depending on how the final weekend of the regular season shakes out.
 
SERIES HISTORY
FGCU holds a 19-12 advantage in the all-time series with the Owls. The Eagles were swept by the Owls in the regular season finale a season ago, and Kennesaw State claimed the ASUN Regular Season Championship. However, the two teams matched up in an elimination game at the ASUN Tournament, and FGCU ended Kennesaw State's season with an impressive 6-0 win as Kenton Hering (Melbourne, Fla./Eastern Florida State/Viera HS) and Sterling Koerner (Fort Pierce, Fla./John Carroll HS) combined to pitch a two-hit shutout in Nashville, Tenn. The Eagles and Owls have split the last 14 meetings since the 2013 season.

COACHING MATCHUP
FGCU founding head coach Dave Tollett has posted a 524-313-3 all-time record in his 15th season as the Eagles' skipper. Tollett, who secured his 500th win by defeating UNC Wilmington, 10-1, on Mar. 5, 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 Kennesaw State head coach Mike Sansing. In his 26th year with the Owls, Sansing has posted a 965-546 record and is 1,067-574 in his 29th overall season as a head coach. The long-time skipper entered the 2017 season as the 13th active winningest coach in the NCAA.
 
SCOUTING THE OWLS
Coming off its 2016 ASUN Regular Season Championship, Kennesaw State enters the final weekend of the regular season with a 23-27 overall record and 10-8 mark in ASUN play. Coming off a midweek win at Mercer, the Owls have registered conference series wins against Stetson and NJIT with a series sweep of USC Upstate.
 
Offensively, the Owls rank second with a .289 overall average and are hitting .299 against league opponents. Senior outfielder Chris Erwin leads the team and ranks third in the ASUN with a .346 average and is joined by five other Owls hitting above .300 this season. Sophomore outfielder Taylor Allum leads the league with 14 home runs this season as Kennesaw State has hit a league-best 50 long balls this season.  
 
On the mound, Dibrell leads the ASUN with a 1.49 ERA and ranks seventh in the NCAA in the category. He has also struck out 89 batters in 84.2 innings pitched – both of which rank fourth in the conference. Senior right hander Eric Stahl has been the team's most used arm out of the bullpen and has recorded a pair of saves this season. Redshirt sophomore lefty Brian Exley has been most effective with a 2.51 ERA in 18 relief appearances.

HEATING UP
After hitting .238 and scoring 3.5 runs per game in the first 17 games of April, the FGCU offense exploded for 64 runs on 84 hits while going 6-0 in its last six conference matchups. The team's 37 runs in a three-game series against NJIT were the most since scoring 47 runs at Northern Kentucky in 2014, while its 47 hits against the Highlanders were the most since registering 50 hits in three games at USC Upstate last season. The Eagles have registered 12 or more hits in six straight games conference games. The overall streak, which was snapped in a loss at Miami Tuesday night, marked the longest streak with double digit hits this season and matched the longest streak from a year ago. Additionally, the Eagles' 19-run margin of victory in its 20-1 vs. NJIT on Apr. 29 registers as the largest in Division I program history.

POWER SURGE
In its series-clinching, blowout win against the Highlanders on Apr. 29, FGCU set the single-game program record with seven home runs, surpassing the previous record of six long balls turned in at ETSU on May 1, 2009. Now with 41 home runs through 50 games this season, the Green and Blue has totaled its most home runs in a single season since hitting 54 home runs in 2010 – the final season of the live bat era. FGCU has homered in eight of its last 10 games, with two or more home runs in four of those contests.

GOING TOE-TO-TOE WITH STATE TITANS
FGCU finished off the season 5-3 in games versus Florida, FSU and Miami. The Eagles entered the week of Apr. 3 a perfect 4-0 against the 'Big Three' opponents but dropped a pair of midweek games at FSU by one run. FGCU swept the then #2 Gators in a pair of midweek games on Mar. 7 and 8 before turning around the following week and defeating then #1 FSU. With the win against the Seminoles, the Green and Blue not only took down its first top-ranked opponent in program history, but also finished off a 13-game stretch against 2016 NCAA Tournament teams with an 11-2 record and a 10-game stretch against #1 or #2 seeds from last year's tournament at 9-1. Additionally, with a 2-1 record against the Hurricanes including a 3-0 win in front of a Swanson Stadium record crowd of 2,074 on Mar. 29, FGCU not only claimed its first season series against Miami in program history, but also defeated the Gators, Seminoles and Hurricanes in the same season for the first time.
 
IN THE RANKINGS
After starting the season a program best 24-3, FGCU appeared as high as #9 in the country in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll, which marked the highest ranking ever achieved by any FGCU athletics program. Additionally, the Eagles were tabbed a consensus top-15 program as the team was ranked #14 or higher in all six nationally-recognized polls.

500-WIN CLUB…AND COUNTING
Tollett joined the 500-win club as FGCU capped off its weekend sweep at UNC Wilmington with a 10-1 win on Mar. 5. With 34 wins this season – the team's most since 2014 – Tollett has now pushed his win total to 524. He has recorded 30 or more wins in 12 of his 15 seasons, including a program record 41 wins in 2006, and has led the Eagles to a winning mark in conference play in eight of nine seasons in the ASUN. Tollett joined Sansing and UNF's Smoke Laval as the only active head coaches in the league with 500 or more wins, and the trio was recently joined by the aforementioned Forehand.
 
NCAA ACTIVE LEADER
In his final season with the Green and Blue, redshirt senior Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) continues to not only climb FGCU's all-time records, but also ranks among the top-10 in active NCAA players in a number of offensive categories. Rivera leads the nation in career games played (238), doubles (71), RBI (205), total bases (462) and walks (163). Additionally, he ranks fourth in hits (271), sixth in at-bats (859) and tied for eighth in home runs (38).

ASUN WEEKLY HONORS
Following its sweep of Lipscomb, Eli Lovell (Lincoln, Neb./Kansas City Kansas CC/Lincoln Southwest HS) earned FGCU's eighth weekly honor this season as he was named the ASUN Baseball Player of the Week. The award was not only the record eighth weekly honor for the Green and Blue this season, but also marks the fifth Player of the Week recognition, which also marks a program record. Former Eagles Brooks Beisner and Michael Suchy combined for four Player of the Week awards in 2013, while the 2010 team that included five-time MLB All-Star Chris Sale earned seven total honors. The five Player of the Week honors is also the most in the ASUN since former member FAU also won five weekly awards during the 2004 season. A complete list of this year's weekly award winners is included at the bottom of this release.
 

Player of the Week	Pitcher of the Week
Richie Garcia (Feb. 20)	Kutter Crawford (Mar. 6)
Matt Reardon (Mar. 13)	Peyton Gray (Mar. 13)
Nick Rivera (Mar. 20)	Mario Leon (Apr. 3)
Nick Rivera (May 1)
Eli Lovell (May 15)

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	ASUN
1.	FGCU (2008-present)	332-229-1	172-91 (.654)
2.	UNF (2008-present)	318-240	143-115 (.554)
3.	Kennesaw State (2008-present)	294-270	153-103 (.598)
4.	Stetson (2008-present)	294-289	145-116 (.556)
5.	Lipscomb (2008-present)	279-293	132-128 (.508)
6.	Jacksonville (2008-present)	274-286	133-126 (.514)
7.	Mercer (2008-14)	243-156	115-82 (.584)
8.	USC Upstate (2008-present)	217-325	87-169 (.340)
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-present)	25-74	3-35 (.079)

 
CLIMBING THE RANKS
Along with his aforementioned NCAA active ranks, Rivera has also made his mark in FGCU program history as he not only holds the career record for games played, games started (233), doubles, RBI and total bases, but also ranks in the top-five in program history in a few other offensive categories. The Cape Coral native ranks third in home runs and hits and fourth in runs scored (165).

CAREER GAMES PLAYED

1.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	238
2.	Josh Upchurch (2006-09)	216
3.	Mikel Alvarez (2008-11)	214

CAREER GAMES STARTED

1.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	233
2.	Josh Upchurch (2006-09)	216
3.	Mikel Alvarez (2008-11)	212

CAREER RBI

1.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	205
2.	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	180
	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	180

CAREER DOUBLES

1.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	71
2.	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	54
3.	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	47
	Jason Louwsma (2005-06)	47
	Colton Bottomley (2013-16)	47

CAREER TOTAL BASES

1.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	462
2.	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	418
	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	418

CAREER HOME RUNS

1.	Zach Maxfield (2009-11)	41
2.	Tim Roberson (2008-11)	40
3.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	38

CAREER HITS

1.	Mikel Alvarez (2008-11)	316
2.	Josh Upchurch (2006-09)	311
3.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	271

CAREER RUNS SCORED

1.	Josh Upchurch (2006-09)	237
2.	Mikel Alvarez (2008-11)	202
3.	Stephen Wickens (2008-11)	178
4.	Nick Rivera (2013-present)	165

Earlier this season, Koerner broke the program's career and single-season saves record and has now turned in an ASUN-best 12 saves on the season. He also set the career appearances mark and is tied for the program record in games finished. Koerner is joined by Crawford (Okeechobee, Fla./Indian River State/Okeechobee HS), Garrett Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto County HS), Dye (DeLand, Fla./DeLand HS) and Hering, who also make their way up a number of career lists.
 
CAREER SAVES

1.	Sterling Koerner (2014-present)	19
2.	J.J. Crumbley (2005-08)	14
3.	Brady Anderson (2012-16)	11
4.	Jack Wagoner (2010-11)	9
	Harrison Cooney (2011-13)	9
6.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	8

 
SINGLE SEASON SAVES

1.	Sterling Koerner (2017)	12
2.	Jack Wagoner (2010)	9
3.	Brady Anderson (2014)	7

 
CAREER APPEARANCES

1.	Sterling Koerner (2014-present)	94
2.	J.J. Crumbley (2005-08)	86
3.	RJ Brown (2010-13)	82
4.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	80

CAREER GAMES FINISHED

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

 
LOWEST ERA (MIN. 40 IP)

1.	Kutter Crawford (2017)	1.76
2.	Chris Sale (2008-10)	2.52
3.	Richard Bleier (2006-08)	2.70

 
CAREER FEWEST WALKS PER 9.0 IP (MIN 40 IP)

1.	Sterling Koerner (2014-present)	1.09
2.	Josh Dye (2015-present)	1.09
3.	Jason Short (2003-05)	1.42
4.	Michael Murray (2013-15)	1.46
5.	Jordan Desguin (2015)	1.60
6.	Billy Phillips (2004-05)	1.78
7.	Derek Shaw (2007-09)	1.79
8.	Garrett Anderson (2014-present)	1.82

 
MOST STRIKEOUTS PER 9.0 IP (MIN 40 IP)

1.	Chris Sale (2008-10)	11.53
2.	Brandon Bixler (2011-13)	10.91
3.	Kutter Crawford (2017)	10.40
4.	Ryan Williams (2004-06)	10.27
5.	Luis Pardo (2007)	10.21
5.	Kenton Hering (2016-present)	10.11

 
LOWEST OPPONENT BATTING AVERAGE (MIN 40 IP)

1.	Brandon Bixler (2011-13)	.201
2.	Kutter Crawford (2017)	.206
3.	Chris Cahil (2003-04)	.207
4.	Jordan Desguin (2015)	.216
5.	Clint Knoblauch (2012-16)	.232
6.	Jack English (2012-15)	.234
7.	Chris Sale (2008-10)	.235
8.	Kenton Hering (2016-present)	.236

 
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 524-313-3 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, two current major leaguers, 17 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 visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.