FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU baseball team (7-4) came out on the losing side of a 5-3 midweek battle against Indiana State (7-4) on Tuesday night at Swanson Stadium. The Eagles trailed the Sycamores for a majority of the game, but came within two runs of tying up the score with a two-out, ninth inning rally.

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, chipping in a pair of hits apiece. Coffers added a RBI and came around to score once.

"This was a good ballgame," head coach Dave Tollett said. "We knew they were going to be a good team coming in. They won two games at Tennessee and were coming off a big sweep over FIU. Even though we knew it was going to be a fight, we just couldn't get anything going. They put some pressure on us that we haven't seen and we're going to have to go back and work on that."

Freshman Jason Woodward (Titusville, Fla./Titusville HS) got the start on the mound for the Green & Blue, the first of his collegiate career. Though Indiana State was able to get on the board with a two-out run, the rookie got out of the inning and stranded a runner on base.

In the home team's half of the first frame, senior Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) opened up the Eagles' scoring with a solo shot to left field. His homer, his second of the season, knotted things up at 1-1.

After being held scoreless during their second time at bat, the Sycamores kicked off a two-inning spurt that saw the team tag a combined three runs to Woodward. Indiana State first pushed a run across in the third before extending its advantage to 4-1 in the fourth.

FGCU had a good chance to score in the bottom of that inning when a pair of Eagles reached. Junior Alejandro Figueredo (Sucre, Venezuela/West Oaks HS/Seminole State), who was hit by a pitch, and Krzeminski's single pushed runners into scoring position for the home team, but the rest of the lineup was unable to capitalize.

Woodward was relived at the start of the fifth by junior Gus Carter (Melbourne, Fla./Eau Gallie HS/Florida Southwestern State). The southpaw worked around a pair of runners to get out of his first inning cleanly, snapping the visiting team's scoring run. In the following frame, the Sycamores were able to add to their lead once again, using an RBI single to push their fifth run of the night across. Indiana State tried to add another run with a ball that was driven deep to right field, but sophomore Jalen Townsend (Orlando, Fla./Winter Park HS) was there to make the grab at the wall.

From the fifth inning through the eighth, the Eagles had a combined three runners reach base. Long, Coffers and redshirt-sophomore Brian Ellis (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) each singled, but the team was unable to bring them in.

While FGCU's offense struggled with timely hitting, the pitching staff kept the Sycamores off the board. Junior Tyler Shuck (Cape Coral, Fla./Canterbury HS), freshman Najer Victor (Philadelphia, Pa./East Ridge HS) and senior Hunter McGarry (Bradenton, Fla./Bradenton Christian School/State College of Florida-Manatee) each tossed one of the final three frames, emerging with clean slates. Shuck, who recorded the final two outs of the seventh after Carter struck out a Sycamore for the first, Victor and McGarry faced the minimum in their respective appearances.

Indiana State brought out its closer to start the bottom of the ninth, who retired the first two Eagles that he faced. With two outs on the board, Krzeminski stepped up and roped a double. He advanced to third after a wild pitch and came in to score after Coffers added an extra-base hit of his own. Pinch-hitter Ian Farrow (Merritt Island, Fla./Merritt Island HS) then made it three-consecutive doubles when he hit a ball into the gap in left center field and plated Coffers, cutting the Sycamores' edge to 5-3. A single off the bat of Long pushed the freshman runner over to third base, but Indiana State's arm, the team's fourth of the night, struck out the final batter, sealing the score.

Woodward (1-2), who fanned three in his first collegiate start, was tagged with the loss. Despite the result, the Eagles are still 3-2 against first-time opponents in 2021, having previously won three-of-four during their series against Kansas.

FGCU will remain at The Nest to kick off a home-and-home series with USF this Friday, March 12. The Eagles and the Bulls will first face off at Swanson Stadium at 6:30 p.m. before heading to Tampa the following day for a 5 p.m. game. On Sunday, the teams will play a series finale in Fort Myers at 2 p.m.

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 615-369-3 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.

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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!
 
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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.
 
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