FORT MYERS, Fla. --- Jason Woodward locked things down on the mound over the final 3 2/3 innings while the offense produced a trio of home runs as the top-seeded FGCU baseball team (28-19) defeated No. 4 Jacksonville 7-3 in the second game of a best of three ASUN quarterfinal series inside Swanson Stadium on Saturday to keep their season alive.
 
The two teams will now meet in a winner-take-all game on Sunday at 1 p.m. with the victor advancing to next week's final four at Harmon Stadium in Jacksonville.
 
"I think the wind played a major part of last night's game," FGCU head coach Dave Tollett said. "I thought we hit some balls hard and they happened to stay up because of the wind. Today, we told them to have fun, don't press and let's try to get to tomorrow, and that's what they did."
 
One day after struggling to find the key hit to extend an early lead, the Eagles hit .462 (6-for-13) with two outs on Saturday, including a .364 (4-for-11) average with runners on base.
 
Richie Garcia helped give the Eagles a 1-0 lead in the first, smacking the 257th triple in program history off the left field wall and scoring on a line drive sacrifice fly to the fence in left center from Joe Kinker. It was Garcia's sixth career triple, which moves him into a tie for ninth-most in FGCU annals.
 
The Green and Blue kept things going offensively over the next two innings as Cameron Krzeminski (Coral Springs, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas HS) sent his third home run of the season over the left field wall in the second before a two-run blast from Alejandro Figueredo in the third left the yard just inside the foul pole in left to push the lead to four. It was his fifth home run of the season.
 
Tyler Tipton (Tampa, Fla./Gaither HS/South Florida State), who started for the Eagles, scattered a single and a pair of walks over the first three innings before running into trouble in the fourth. The righty allowed four singles over the first five batters faced as the Dolphins trimmed their four-run deficit in half and had runners on the corners.
 
Tyler Shuck provided some relief from the bullpen, allowing an inherited runner to score on a fielder's choice groundout before getting the final out of the inning on a strikeout to preserve the one-run lead.
 
In the sixth, with FGCU still ahead 4-3, the visitors loaded the bases with one out and worked a 2-0 count in the ensuing at bat off Shuck (Cape Coral, Fla./Canterbury HS). Woodward was then called out of the bullpen, and he worked some magic. First, he evened up the count with a pair of strikes and then induced an infield pop out after five foul balls. He ended the inning in the next at bat with an unassisted groundout to Kinker (North Port, Fla./Venice HS) at first.
 
In the seventh, Jacksonville put a runner on third with one out, but Woodward got back-to-back strikeouts to maintain the lead, which helped set up an RBI double to left center from Figueredo (Sucre, Venezuela/West Oaks HS/Seminole State) in the bottom half. Stephen Wilmer scored from first on the play after drawing a one-out walk.
 
"Figgy's been hot for us," Tollett said of Figueredo, who has produced five multi-hit games since April 30. "He's been one of our top hitters over the past 10 games. He's seeing the ball well, and that was a big hit to put us up multiple runs (in the seventh). We just need to keep doing what we've been doing on the offensive end tomorrow."
 
A two-out rally in the eighth provided some insurance for the Green and Blue as Brian Ellis (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) slapped an opposite field single to left before scoring on a no-doubt home run to left from Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS). It was the 26th career home run for the senior shortstop, who finished 2-for-5 for his 12th multi-hit game of the season.
 
Jacksonville got a one-out double off Woodward in the ninth, but a strikeout and a groundout ended the game and pushed the series to a deciding third game.
 
All but one starter for FGCU got at least one hit, led by two-hit efforts from Garcia and Figueredo, who also nabbed his 12th multi-hit performance of the season along with a team-best three RBI. Wilmer (Sarasota, Fla./Riverview HS/Pasco-Hernando State/ECU), who drew three walks while also smacking a double off the wall in right center, tied Garcia for the team-high in runs with two.
 
Woodward (Titusville, Fla./Titusville HS) picked up his first save of the season with a final line that included just two hits with no walks and four strikeouts. Shuck (W, 3-0) picked up the win behind his two-plus innings of scoreless relief that included one strikeout.
 
"I thought he was awesome, but he's been that good for his past four appearances," Tollett said of Woodward's performance. "He's been very special for us out of the pen. To go get him at 2-0 and put a young kid in that situation shows how much belief I have in him."
 
Johnny Long (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) extended his team-best hitting streak to four straight while Ian Farrow (Merritt Island, Fla./Merritt Island HS) has now reached base in 19 consecutive games, which is also a team-high.
 
Saturday's ASUN Quarterfinal Series Results
Kennesaw State 10, Lipscomb 2 (KSU wins series 2-0)
North Florida 9, Stetson 2 (UNF wins series 2-0)
Liberty 12, Bellarmine 6 (Liberty wins series 2-0)
FGCU 7, Jacksonville 3 (Series tied 1-1)
 
Notes
With all three other quarterfinal round matchups complete, the Eagles would meet Kennesaw State at 3 p.m. on Thursday in the ASUN semifinal round should they defeat Jacksonville on Sunday. On the other hand, a win by the Dolphins would see them face Liberty at 11 a.m. on Thursday.
 
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COACH TOLLETT
FGCU coach Dave Tollett currently owns a 637-383-3 overall record (.623) 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.

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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!
 
#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 42 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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