TALLAHASSEE, Fla. --- With the ASUN South Division championship wrapped up, the FGCU baseball team (26-17) will conclude its regular season with a pair of matchups at nationally-ranked Florida State (25-17) on Tuesday and Wednesday inside Dick Howser Stadium. The first game will have a 6 p.m. first pitch followed by a 2 p.m. start on Wednesday.
Top Competition
The Seminoles, who are coming off a series win over No. 2 Notre Dame, are ranked 17th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) and DI Baseball polls.
It will be the first meeting between the two programs since April 2017, and the Eagles have actually won three of the past five in the series dating back to 2015 despite its 4-9 all-time record against the Seminoles. FGCU defeated No. 1 Florida State 5-2 on March 15, 2017 inside Jet Blue Stadium, knocked off No. 4 Florida State on the road May 11, 2016 and won 5-0 on the road against No. 7 Florida State on April 8, 2015.
FGCU is 1-2 against nationally ranked teams this year having split a series against No. 21 Florida Atlantic in early March before falling to No. 5 Miami on March 17.
Taking Care of Business
With their series win over Jacksonville this past weekend, the Green and Blue wrapped up the ASUN South Division title and the south's No. 1 seed in the conference tournament quarterfinals, where they will host No. 4 Jacksonville May 21-23 inside Swanson Stadium. The winner of the series will advance to the final four, which will be hosted in Jacksonville May 27-29.
Here's how the quarterfinal round matchups will look:
North Division
No. 1 Liberty vs. No. 4 Bellarmine
No. 2 Kennesaw State vs. No. 3 Lipscomb
South Division
No. 1 FGCU vs. No. 4 Jacksonville
No. 2 North Florida vs. No. 3 Stetson
The semifinals will feature the highest remaining north seed against the lowest remaining south seed. Then, the highest south seed will face the lowest north seed.
Solid Offense
The Eagles rank among the top 70 schools in the nation in hits, on base percentage, runs, sacrifice bunts, scoring, hit batters, walks and doubles.
Streaks and Other Stuff
The Eagles have had several offensive stars this year. Here's several of the leaders in multi-hit games, hitting streaks and multi-RBI games.
Multi-Hit Games
Hitting Streaks
Multi-RBI Games (Top 5)
Eagles Shine At Night
The Eagles have four players hitting at least .300 in night games, including
Richie Garcia (.368),
Brian Ellis (.362),
Joe Kinker (.344) and
Johnny Long (.317). As a team, FGCU is hitting .285 in such games.
Leadoff King
Brian Ellis is having a monster season from the leadoff spot for the Eagles this year as the redshirt junior is hitting a team and career-best .370 with 41 runs, eight doubles and 29 RBI. He has also drawn a squad-best 31 walks and been hit by the pitch 12 times for a .495 on base percentage. In fact, he reached base a team-leading 19 straight games earlier this year. With the stick, he has a team-high 21 multi-hit games with five three-hit efforts and a four-hit outburst on his record, and he's hitting a team-best .514 with runners in scoring position. He's also fourth on the team with seven multi-RBI efforts.
Rare Breed
Richie Garcia (227) and
Marc Coffers (207) are just the third pair of FGCU teammates to have played in at least 200 games on the same roster, joining the 2011 duo of Mikel Alvarez (214) and Stephen Wickens (205) and the 2017 duo of
Nick Rivera (250) and Gage Morey (234). In fact, only seven Eagles have played in 200 career games.
Approaching History
Several Eagles are moving up the charts among the program's all-time leaders, led by
Richie Garcia, who sits among the top 10 in starts, runs, hits, doubles, home runs and walks. In fact, with his five hits over the weekend, Garcia moved past Tim Roberson (247, 2008-11) for fifth-place in the program's Division I era record book. With his 225 starts, he only trails
Nick Rivera (245, 2013-17) for most by an Eagle all-time.
With his two runs this past weekend,
Marc Coffers moved past Jake Noll (151, 2013-16) for sixth place on the program's Division I era list. He is now within striking distance of Tim Roberson (156, 2008-11) and Zach Maxfield (158, 2009-11).
Mason Studstill sports the lowest opponent batting average (.190) and the fifth-lowest earned run average (2.58). On top of that, he has the fifth-most strikeouts all-time among Division I era leaders at 199.
Hunter McGarry sits three saves shy of sole possession of the program's all-time record.
Among The Best
Several Eagles rank among the best in the country.
ASUN Standings
South Division
| School |
ASUN |
Overall |
| #1 FGCU |
12-6 |
26-17 |
| #2 North Florida |
11-7 |
18-20 |
| #3 Stetson |
10-8 |
24-20 |
| #4 Jacksonville |
3-15 |
10-30 |
North Division
| School |
ASUN |
Overall |
| #1 Liberty |
17-1 |
33-11 |
| #2 Kennesaw State |
12-6 |
26-17 |
| #3 Lipscomb |
8-13 |
17-25 |
| #4 Bellarmine |
8-16 |
13-30 |
| North Alabama |
6-15 |
7-37 |
Tuesday Schedule
Bellarmine at Eastern Kentucky, 6 p.m.
Florida at Stetson, 6:30 p.m.
FGCU at Florida State, 6 p.m.
North Alabama at Vanderbilt, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday Schedule
FGCU at Florida State, 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 634-382-3 overall record (.624) and a 211-115 (.647) 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.
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