FORT MYERS, Fla. – Josh Dye went the distance and completed the program's sixth complete game shutout in the Division I era Saturday afternoon, leading the FGCU baseball team to a 3-0 victory over Kennesaw State. Dye fanned nine over his nine innings, allowing just four hits as the Eagles (29-12, 6-5 ASUN) evened up the series against the Owls (24-19, 10-4).

Dye's (DeLand, Fla./DeLand HS) masterful performance was the first complete game of his career while the redshirt-junior joined the likes of Ricky Knapp, Michael Murray, and six-time MLB All-Star Chris Sale as the only Eagles to toss complete game shutouts in the Division I era. Murray was the last Eagle to accomplish the feat, shutting out Bethune-Cookman on March 20, 2015. Meanwhile, Jordan Desguin was the last to throw a complete game (March 25, 2015, at Miami).

"He was really good today," said head coach Dave Tollett of Dye. "He had to throw behind in the count, sink the two-seam, and his changeup was especially good. But that's our first complete game in quite some time. He was at 98 pitches going into the final inning so we had to run him back out there. He averaged a strikeout per inning but the key was, we needed this win. Josh knew we needed this and that's what makes it more special for us."

Thanks in part to Dye's efforts the Green and Blue rebounded from a difficult loss to open the weekend. Dye kept the game scoreless through six innings when FGCU pushed across the first run of the game. In the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles scored twice, once on a Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) triple and again on a Kohl Gilmore (Fort Pierce, Fla.John Carroll HS/Indian River State) single. A Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) double in the eighth pushed the lead to 3-0 when Dye went out for the ninth. The lefty made quick work of the Owls in the final frame, capping his performance with his ninth strikeout of the afternoon.

After Dye stranded a pair in the opening inning, FGCU loaded the bases on three consecutive singles from Jay Hayes (Altamonte Springs, Fla./Lyman HS), Spencer Levine (Miami, Fla./Miami Killian Senior HS/Seminole State College), and Christian Proffitt (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida Baker HS) but a pop fly ended the inning.

Kennesaw State threatened again in the fourth with two two-out singles but Dye's fifth strikeout of the game ended the inning with both runners on base.

FGCU then put a pair on in the fourth with one out only for a fly out and a line out to end the threat.

Dye retired 10-straight going back to his strikeout to end the fourth, allowing FGCU to take the lead in the seventh. Proffitt began the inning by being hit by the first pitch delivered his way. The Eagles elected to play small ball, bringing Proffitt to third for Garcia. The sophomore delivered, taking a 1-2 pitch to right center for an RBI triple. Three pitches later, Garcia crossed the plate on a Gilmore RBI single to make it 2-0.

Dye allowed the first two batters to reach in the eighth but after a failed sacrifice bunt attempt led to the first out, the left-hander forced an inning-ending double play.

The Eagles tacked on one more insurance run in the eighth, taking advantage of the fourth KSU error. Levine reached on that error and came around to score on Coffer's double down the right-field line.

Dye completed his gem with a pop out, a groundout, and his final strikeout for his seventh win of the season.

UP NEXT
FGCU goes for the series win tomorrow at noon.

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 his 16th season, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 562-328-3 record (.626) as the only head coach in the program's history and is coming off the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament. He is a four-time ASUN Coach of the Year and has guided the Green and Blue to four ASUN Regular Season Championships and one ASUN Tournament Championship. His team has been ranked nationally on several occasions, including as high as #9 in the country in 2017, and has coached 49 All-Conference selections, 29 draft picks, three current major leaguers, 15 current minor leaguers, four ASUN Pitchers of the Year, four All-Americans, three 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.