FORT MYERS, Fla. – For the second time this season, the FGCU baseball team (7-4) is gearing up to take on USF (7-3). The Eagles will face the Bulls in a home-and-home series that will feature a pair of games at Swanson Stadium (Friday, March 12 & Sunday, March 14) and one on the road in Tampa (Saturday, March 13). Friday's tilt is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start, with Saturday's game set to begin at 5 p.m. The teams will then cap off the weekend with a 2 p.m. series finale.
All games at Swanson Stadium will be open to approximately 500 fans, with masks and social distancing required. The USF Baseball Stadium is regulating attendance via a pass list. All three games will be streamed (Friday & Sunday – YouTube Live; Saturday – ESPN+) for fans who cannot attend.
The Sweep
FGCU and USF opened up the 2021 baseball season with a three-game series split between Tampa and Fort Myers (Feb. 20-21). The Eagles, who kicked off the action with a 4-1, 10-inning victory, went on to sweep the Bulls. With the result, FGCU improved to 14-7 all-time against USF.
Last Time Out
The Eagles are coming off a midweek loss to Indiana State (5-3), as their two-out, ninth-inning rally was not enough to surpass the Sycamores. Seniors
Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) and
Cameron Krzeminski (Coral Springs, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas HS), as well as sophomore
Johnny Long (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS), led the team at the plate, finishing their nights with a pair of hits apiece.
The Friday Guy
Senior
Mason Studstill (Titusville, Fla./Rockledge HS/Miami/Eastern Florida State) will enter this Friday's game in search of his second-consecutive win, having picked one up on the road last weekend at No. 21 FAU. The right-hander, who tossed 8.0 scoreless innings and fanned nine batters, combined with junior
Tyler Shuck (Cape Coral, Fla./Canterbury HS) to shut out the Owls, who had entered the series ranked seventh in the nation in scoring. For his efforts, Studstill collected the first ASUN Pitcher of the Week honors of his career.
Currently, Studstill ranks third in the ASUN in strikeouts (20) and fifth in ERA (1.33). Of the four arms ahead of him in ERA, none have tossed more than 20.0 innings.
Heating Up
Krzeminski has been a sparkplug for the Eagles' offense and is batting .462 on the season. The infielder has homered once, collected two RBI and scored six runs. Additionally, he has chipped in eight assists and helped FGCU turn three double plays while maintaining a perfect fielding percentage.
The Bats
As a team, FGCU is batting .254 this season, which checks in at third among ASUN programs. In addition to Krzeminski, four different Eagles are batting over .300. Sophomore
Joe Kinker (North Port, Fla./Venice HS) is just short of joining Krzeminski above the .400 mark, as he is currently slashing .375.
Scouting the Bulls
Since being swept by the Eagles, the Bulls have won each of their last seven games. Most recently, USF swept FGCU's ASUN rival, Stetson, in a weekend series that saw the Bulls outscore the Hatters 19-12. The team was scheduled to face off against Florida State in a midweek game this past Tuesday evening, but it was postponed to later in the season.
Offensively, the Bulls rank within the nation's top-50 in numerous categories, including batting averae (26th, .310), slugging percentage (33rd, .485), home runs (35th, 13) and hits (41st, 112). Freshman Matt Ruiz leads the effort with a .444 batting average and is joined above .400 by redshirt-freshman Carmine Lane (.429) and freshman Drew Brutcher (.415). Brutcher's five home runs are the ninth-most of any player in the nation and Ruiz ranks 16th in hits (20).
USF's pitching staff has settled in after allowing 27 Green & Blue runs during opening weekend, which were more than FAMU (13) and Stetson (12) put up combined. Redshirt-freshman Jack Jasiak has tossed complete games in his last two starts, the second-most of any player in the nation. He leads the Bulls' starting arms with a 1.29 ERA and checks in at third in the national standings with a 24.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
What to Watch
The Backend: Three different Green & Blue arms have picked up saves this season: senior
Hunter McGarry (Bradenton, Fla./Bradenton Christian School/State College of Florida-Manatee), sophomore
Chris Seymour (Boynton Beach, Fla./Park Vista HS) and freshman
Najer Victor (Philadelphia, Pa./East Ridge HS). With 12 career stops, McGarry needs just one more to tie former Eagle JJ Crumbley (2005-08) for third in program history.
Game One: The Eagles have won two of their past three "game one" matchups against weekend opponents. On each occasion, the team has gone on to either win or split the series.
The Split: This weekend's series is the last that FGCU will play in a split, home-and-home format. Following the games against the Bulls, the Eagles will close out their non-conference slate with a four-game series on the road at FAMU (March 19-21).
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www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign up to have news on FGCU baseball or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting
www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
COACH TOLLETT
FGCU coach Dave Tollett currently owns a 615-369-3 overall record (.626) and a 199-109 (.646) record in the ASUN. He is the only head coach in the program's history and led the program to its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2017. He is a five-time ASUN Coach of the Year and has guided the Green and Blue to five ASUN Regular Season Championships and one ASUN Tournament Championship. His team has been ranked nationally on several occasions, including as high as No. 9 in the country in 2017, and has coached 54 all-conference selections, 33 draft picks, three current major leaguers, 13 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 seven-time MLB All-Star.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April 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.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 84 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 38 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 24, 2019-20) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
--FGCUATHLETICS.COM—
