BOCA RATON, Fla. – Despite pulling themselves within four of No. 21 FAU (8-2), the FGCU baseball team (7-3) was unable to overtake the Owls for the win while on the road in Boca Raton, falling 14-9. After trailing by as much as 13-0, the Eagles put up a combined nine runs from the sixth to the eighth innings to bring the game within contention.

Six of the nine runs put up during that span were from Green & Blue home runs. Sophomore Joe Kinker (North Port, Fla./Venice HS), who cranked out a three-run shot, senior Cameron Krzeminski (Coral Springs, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas HS), whose two-run homer brought in classmate Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS), and freshman Kyle Machado's (Punta Gorda, Fla./Charlotte HS) solo shot highlighted the Eagles' offensive performance.

"Obviously, this was not the result that we wanted to get out of today," head coach Dave Tollett said. "FAU is a tough team and I thought they came out pretty hungry, especially after we beat them Friday. I would have liked to see our team get control of the game sooner, but I was impressed with our fight. Being down 13-0, our players still continued to battle later on in the game and I feel like we just ran out of time. We look forward to playing this team again in a few weeks. It's always been a battle when we've played them and this weekend was no different." 

In the first half of the ballgame, the Owls proved why they entered the weekend with the seventh-best offense in the nation and put up 13 runs. The scoring spurt, which began with a six-spot in the first and ended with a four-spot in the fifth, had runs that were tagged to four different FGCU arms. In the first five innings of action, freshman Jason Woodward (Titusville, Fla./Titusville HS) was the only Green & Blue pitcher to toss a scoreless frame, doing so in the fourth. The rookie worked around a pair of leadoff runners to finish his outing with a clean slate.

After struggling in the batter's box for five innings, the Eagles' offense was finally able to get something going in the top of the sixth. Senior Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) kicked off the frame with a double and later scored when sophomore Alejandro Rodriguez (Cidra, Puerto Rico/Montverde Academy/Eastern Florida State) grounded out to the shortstop.

In the following frame, FGCU's offense exploded with a five-run performance. Redshirt-sophomore Brian Ellis (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) pushed the first two Eagles of the inning across when his two-out double sent in both sophomore Jalen Townsend (Orlando, Fla./Winter Park HS) and Krzeminski. Both he and Garcia, who walked, then came in on Kinker's homer to trim FAU's lead down to 13-6.

The momentum continued to favor the visiting team in the following inning, as an additional trio of runs brought the Eagles within four. The scoring came from back-to-back home runs off the bats of Krzeminski and Machado. After allowing Krzeminski's two-run shot, the Owls made a pitching change, but Machado took the reliever deep to make it a 13-9 ballgame.

Freshman Najer Victor (Philadelphia, Pa./East Ridge HS) took over the mound in the bottom of the eighth and took down the first Owl he faced, swinging. A pair of singles then put runners in scoring position for FAU and the team was able to tag up its final insurance run before the rookie recorded the final out.

FGCU went down in order in the top of the ninth, preventing any further chance for the Eagles to complete what would have been a historic comeback. With the result, freshman Mason Miller (Odessa, Fla./Mitchell HS) moves to 0-1 on the year, while the Eagles split the series with the Owls, 1-1.

Eight different arms made appearances for the Green & Blue. In addition to Woodward, both sophomore Chris Seymour (Boynton Beach, Fla./Park Vista HS) and junior Gus Carter (Melbourne, Fla./Eau Gallie HS/Florida Southwestern State) each tossed a scoreless frame. The rest of the staff was tagged with at least one earned run.
 
The Eagles will be back in action on Tuesday, March 9 with a midweek game versus Indiana State. The contest is set for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch at Swanson Stadium and will be a white out.

For complete coverage of FGCU baseball, follow the Eagles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FGCU_Baseball and online at 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 615-368-3 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—