FORT MYERS, Fla. – Following three-consecutive weekends on the road, the FGCU baseball team (16-10, 4-2 ASUN) is returning to Swanson Stadium to host ASUN foe Jacksonville (7-18, 0-6 ASUN) April 9-11. First pitch of the series is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday with game two to follow at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The teams will wrap things up with a 1 p.m. series finale on Sunday.
All three games will be open to approximately 500 fans, all of whom must remain masked and socially distanced. For those who cannot attend, the action will be streamed on YouTube Live.
This weekend will mark the first time that the teams have faced off since two seasons ago, as the 2020 ASUN Conference slate was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, Jacksonville was one of three league opponents that the Eagles swept at The Nest. Over the course of the three games, FGCU outscored the visiting Dolphins 17-3.
Road Warriors
The Eagles are coming off of their first ASUN series win of the year, having swept UNF in Jacksonville over the weekend. FGCU claimed a pair of one-run victories in the first two games before overcoming a 5-0 deficit in game three.
Freshman
Ian Farrow (Merritt Island, Fla./Merritt Island HS) led the team with a .417 clip at the plate and a team-best six RBI. The rookie has had a torrid start to conference play, hitting .478 against ASUN opponents. Over the six league games he has played in so far, he has struck out just three times and tallied six extra-base hits. The outfielder is currently on an 11-game streak of reaching base and has six multi-hit games under his belt.
Four different arms emerged from the series allowing zero earned runs. Both sophomore
Tyler Tipton (Tampa, Fla./Gaither HS/South Florida State) and junior
Joey Mugavero (Estero, Fla./Estero HS/Florida Southwestern State) spearheaded the effort, as each arm tossed 3.1 innings. Both Tipton and Mugavero picked up wins during the series and combined for six strikeouts. Mugavero no-hit the Ospreys during his time on the mound, while Tipton scattered a pair.
200 Club
Senior
Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) is just four hits away from joining classmate
Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) in the 200 hits club. Coffers will become the 16th player in program history to surpass the mark, while Garcia did so during the season-opener at USF (Feb. 20).
In the Box
With a .381 season batting average, Garcia sits at the top of the ASUN statistical rankings and ranks 89th in the nation. He is joined in the league's top-five by senior
Cameron Krzeminski (Coral Springs, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas HS), who is slashing .351 (third). As a team, the Eagles' batting average of .279 ranks second in the conference behind Kennesaw State's .281 and checks in at 68th among the country's programs.
K
Senior
Mason Studstill's (Titusville, Fla./Rockledge HS/Miami/Eastern Florida State) 43 strikeouts this season pace the Green & Blue staff and check in at third on the ASUN leaderboard. The Friday starter also checks in at fifth in the league in ERA with his 2.70. He is eight punchouts away from surpassing former Eagle and current major leaguer Richard Bleier (2006-08) for 10th all-time in career history.
The Long Ball
Sophomore
Joe Kinker (North Port, Fla./Venice HS) also stands out on the stat sheet, as his six home runs pace the Eagles and tie with Bellarmine's Chris Gambert for the ASUN lead. The utility player tied the program's single-game record last week when he homered twice during a midweek game against FAU. He is one of nine Eagles to put one out of the park this season.
Scouting the Dolphins
Jacksonville will make the trip to Fort Myers after earning an 8-7 victory on the road at No. 17 Florida State Tuesday evening. Redshirt-junior Chris Coipel powered the team with three home runs and six RBI. The victory was the Dolphins' second over a ranked opponent in 2021, as the team defeated No. 5 Florida 10-9 on March 12.
The Dolphins will look for their first win of their conference slate this weekend, having been swept by both UNF and Stetson. Jacksonville has been outscored 38-20 during that stretch, with 36 of the opposing teams' runs being earned.
Redshirt-senior Tyler Santana, who the Eagles will likely face on Friday night, paces the ASUN and ranks 24th in the nation with his 54 strikeouts. The right-hander has tossed one complete game this year (March 19 vs UCF) and owns a 3-4 record on the bump.
Offensively, the team has been picking up the pace after a slow start to the year and has cranked out double-digit hits in four of its last seven outings The Dolphins' batting average of .239 is the second-lowest in the ASUN, ahead of only North Alabama's .195. Freshman Jackson Graksby leads the hitters with a .299 clip at the plate and is one of four players that has started every game he has appeared in.
What to Watch
Streaking: While redshirt-sophomore
Brian Ellis (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) had the longest stretch of the year with 19-straight games of reaching base, both Krzeminski and Farrow are currently on 11-game streaks.
The Backend: Senior
Hunter McGarry (Bradenton, Fla./Bradenton Christian School/State College of Florida-Manatee) is three saves away from tying former Eagle Sterling Koerner (2014-17) for the program's career record of 19. The closer recently made one stop during the series against UNF, pushing him to four total in 2021.
The Home Advantage: This weekends' games will be the Eagles' last at the Nest before a two-week road stint that will see the team make a pair of midweek trips to Miami and participate in a round-robin weekend at Stetson.
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.
ASUN Roundup
South Division Standings
| School |
ASUN |
Overall |
| Stetson |
5-1 |
19-10 |
| FGCU |
4-2 |
16-10 |
| UNF |
3-3 |
9-14 |
| Jacksonville |
0-6 |
7-18 |
North Division Standings
| School |
ASUN |
Overall |
| Liberty |
5-1 |
17-8 |
| Kennesaw State |
4-2 |
16-8 |
| Lipscomb |
4-5 |
11-13 |
| Bellarmine |
5-7 |
9-17 |
| North Alabama |
3-6 |
4-22 |
Recent Results
Monday, April 5
No. 3 Ole Miss 20, North Alabama 6
Tuesday, April 6
Murray State 12, Bellarmine 8
Belmont 5, Lipscomb 4 (DH Game One)
Lipscomb 10, Belmont 9 (DH Game Two)
Jacksonville 8, No. 17 Florida State 7
No. 9 Florida 7, Stetson 6
Alabama State 10, North Alabama 3
Upcoming Games
Wednesday, April 7
Wake Forest at Liberty - 4 p.m.
Friday, April 9 - Sunday, April 11
Bellarmine at Northern Illinois
Lipscomb at Liberty
Kennesaw State at North Alabama
Jacksonville at FGCU
UNF at Stetson
Bellarmine at Southern Illinois
COACH TOLLETT
FGCU coach Dave Tollett currently owns a 625-374-3 overall record (.625) and a 203-111 (.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 85 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 40 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 21, 2020-21), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) 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 in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 23 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, and 2020 Fall 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—
