FORT MYERS, Fla. – After kicking off its season with back-to-back series wins over USF and Kansas, the FGCU baseball team (6-2) now has its sights set on a weekend against No. 21 FAU (6-1). The Eagles and the Owls will face off in a home-and-home series that will feature games in Boca Raton (Fri., March 5 & Sun., March 7) as well as at Swanson Stadium in Fort Myers (Sat., March 6). The first two contests are set for a 5 p.m. start, while Sunday's finale is slated for a 2 p.m. first pitch.
All three games will be open for fans to attend. The game at Swanson Stadium will have approximately a 500-person capacity and all attendees must remain masked and socially distanced at all times. Saturday's action will be streamed on YouTube Live, while the outings at the Owls' home stadium will be available behind a paywall on CUSA.TV.
Hot Start
The Eagles are coming off a series win over Kansas, after taking three-of-four games against the Jayhawks over the course of the past weekend. After dropping the first game, FGCU bounced back to claim the second meeting, as well as both games of the doubleheader.
Offensively,
Joe Kinker (North Port, Fla./Venice HS) led the team with a .417 series batting average. The sophomore chipped in a pair of doubles, two RBI and came across home plate twice. Senior
Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) also had a strong showing against the Jayhawks as he batted .400 while scoring four times and collecting three RBI.
A pair of Green & Blue arms matched their career-best strikeout effort during the series, as well. Junior
Gus Carter (Melbourne, Fla./Eau Gallie HS/Florida Southwestern State) fanned seven during his outing, while freshman
Ronaldo Gallo () rang up six. Both Carter and Gallo finished their weekends with a 0.00 ERA and walked just three combined batters.
The Bullpen
This weekend's series against Kansas was also highlighted by sophomore
Chris Seymour's (Boynton Beach, Fla./Park Vista HS) performance in Sunday's doubleheader. The right-hander became the first pitcher in program history to earn both a win and a save in the same day. Seymour earned a six-pitch win as a reliever during the first game against Kansas before closing out game two.
Both the win and the save were the first of Seymour's FGCU career. He was one of three pitchers to earn saves over the weekend, joined by senior
Hunter McGarry (Bradenton, Fla./Bradenton Christian School/State College of Florida-Manatee) and freshman
Najer Victor (Philadelphia, Pa./East Ridge HS). With 13 career saves, McGarry is one stop away from tying former Eagle JJ Crumbley (2005-08) for third all-time in program history.
Double or Nothing
Senior
Marc Coffers' (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) three doubles lead the team this season and are the third-most of any player in the ASUN. With the addition of his home run, he also leads the team in extra-base hits. Kinker is the only other player with multiple doubles so far, at two, while Garcia, junior
Alejandro Figueredo (Sucre, Venezuela/West Oaks HS/Seminole State) and freshman
Ian Farrow (Merritt Island, Fla./Merritt Island HS) have added one each.
Sale Day
Prior to the first game against Kansas, Director of Athletics
Ken Kavanagh and head coach
Dave Tollett recognized former Eagles Chris & Brianne Sale for their generous, $1 million gift which resulted in the installation of the brand-new Daktronics videoboard out in right center field at Swanson Stadium. The ceremony celebrated both the seven-time MLB All Star's FGCU and professional careers.
Scouting the Owls
Before taking on the Eagles, FAU is scheduled to face off against No. 2 Florida on Wednesday evening in Gainesville. The Gators will be the second ranked program that the team has played against so far this season, having opened up its slate with a series against No. 24 UCF. That weekend, the Owls won two-of-three games in order to secure the overall series.
After a blistering, 6-1 start to the season, the Owls jumped into the national polls at the start of this week. FAU is ranked on three different lists (D1 Baseball, Perfect Game and NCBWA) and is receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
Offensively, the team ranks within the nation's top 10 in home runs (sixth, 15), scoring (seventh, 10.6) and runs scored (eighth, 74). Sophomore Mitchell Hartigan paces the Owls with a .414 batting average to go along with four doubles, one home run and eight RBI. Freshman Nolan Schanuel is also batting above .400, as he currently sits at .404. His 15 RBI are the third-most of any player in the nation and he averages 2.14 per game.
Though the team's offense has been a highlight of the season, the Owls have struggled with pitching, allowing a total of 54 earned runs to cross the plate so far. The staff's ERA of 7.71 27th-highest in the nation and the 14 batters that the group has hit check in at 11th nationally.
FAU's pitching staff does boast three different arms with double-digit strikeouts in redshirt-junior Matt Sparling (16), junior Adriene Reese (10) and sophomore Javi Rivera (10). Sparling, a left-hander, has the lowest ERA of any pitcher on the team that has tossed more than 8.0 innings (3.27) and is holding opponents to a .154 batting average.
What to Watch:
The Repeat: This will be the second time that the two teams have faced off this season, as FGCU previously hosted FAU on Feb. 23 in a midweek game. Though the Owls claimed a 3-1 victory, the Eagles were successfully able to limit FAU's offense to just three runs – their lowest this season.
The Ranked Opponent: FAU will be the Eagles' first ranked opponent of the 2021 slate. Over the past few seasons (2019-Present), FGCU is 2-2 against ranked opponents. Most recently, the Green & Blue earned a win over No. 22 Pepperdine at Swanson Stadium during the 2020 season.
The Leadoff Man: Redshirt-sophomore
Brian Ellis (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) has reached base safely in all but one game this season. The outfielder entered this season on a 16-game streak of getting on base and will look to restart it after the series against Kansas.
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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 614-367-3 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—
