FORT MYERS, Fla. – After splitting the season-opening series with Cincinnati two games apiece, the FGCU baseball team is back this week for four more games. The action kicks off on Wednesday evening when the Eagles host Minnesota. The Green and Blue will then hit the road for a three-game series at Bethune-Cookman this weekend.

First pitch against the Golden Gophers is set for 6:30 p.m. while the games against the Wildcats will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday, 6 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Weekend Recap
Against the Bearcats this past weekend, the Eagles dropped the first two games of the series before rebounding for a 10-5 win on Saturday evening and a 16-8 victory, Sunday afternoon.

Junior Alejandro Rodriguez (Cidra, Puerto Rico/Montverde Academy/Eastern Florida State) led the Eagles with a .500 batting average while also adding two doubles and five RBI. Most of his damage came while catching 19 innings over the weekend after stepping up for the team when a few catchers went down to injury.

Sophomore Ian Farrow (Merritt Island, Fla./Merritt Island HS) also had a huge weekend as he hit. 333 with two home runs and 10 RBI, the third-most in the nation through the opening weekend. Last season in 44 games played, Farrow only had 22 RBI and three home runs.

Victor Honored by ASUN
Sophomore Najer Victor (Philadelphia, Pa./East Ridge HS) was named ASUN Pitcher of the Week after tossing 5.2 innings, giving up just two hits and one earned run while striking out 10 and walking none. It was just the second start of Victor's career and his 10 strikeouts sets a new career-high. It is also the most strikeouts by an Eagle since Mason Studstill struck out 11 on March 6, 2020 against Saint Joseph's.

Get 'Em On, Get 'Em In
The Eagles had one of the best offensive weekends in the country to open the season as they scored 46 runs in the four games, the sixth most in the nation. The high-scoring outputs can be attributed to the fact that the Eagles had an on-base percentage of .473 which is 19th in the country. They are also third in the nation with 13 hit-by-pitch and fourth with 35 walks.

Get Out the Rye Bread and Mustard Grandma Cause It's Grand Salami Time
Farrow hit two home runs in Friday's season opener, the first of which was a grand slam. It was the first grand slam for FGCU since March 31, 2019 when Jay Hayes and Elijah Eusebio each hit one in a 20-3 rout of Towson.

Preseason All-ASUN Selections
Redshirt-junior Brian Ellis (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) and junior Joe Kinker (North Port, Fla./Venice HS) return to the Eagles after being named All-ASUN a season ago. They were both also named to the Preseason All-ASUN team a couple of weeks ago.

Ellis, a First-Team All-ASUN selection in 2021, is also on the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award Watch List, which takes into consideration performance on the field, in the classroom, and in the community. Ellis hit .361 last season and also led the ASUN with a .489 on-base percentage while collecting 31 RBI and scoring 45 runs. He was also named the 43rd-ranked outfielder in the country by d1baseball.com.

Kinker was a second-team All-ASUN selection last season after leading the Green and Blue with 13 home runs. He also led the Eagles with 44 RBI and 87 total bases while hitting .271.

Two other Eagles were named to the Preseason All-ASUN team as transfers Luis Rodriguez (Guarenas, Venezuela/Miami Christian HS/Santa Fe College/Dyersburg State) and Bobby Head (Winter Garden, Fla./West Orange HS/Austin Peay) also earned spots. Rodriguez comes from Santa Fe College where he hit .359 with 14 home runs, 78 RBI, and 61 runs scored in two seasons while Head transfers in after playing four years at Austin Peay where he was an All-OVC First-Team selection in 2021.

Minnesota comes into Wednesday's matchup with a record of 1-3 after playing Florida Atlantic to open the season. In the series with the Owls, Minnesota hit seven home runs over the weekend, fifth most in the nation after the opening weekend, and were led by Chase Stanke, who hit three, and Easton Bertrand, who hit two.

Bethune-Cookman went 1-2 over the weekend against Youngstown State. Christopher Patterson is hitting .636 (7-for-11) to lead the Wildcats while Malik Stevens also collected seven hits and a team-high five RBI. Nolan Santos threw 5.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen and allowed just one hit while striking out five.

Pitching Matchups
VS. MINNESOTA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 6:30 P.M.
RHP Trent Schoebert (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0 K) vs. LHP Mason Miller (0-1, 5.40 ERA, 3 K)

at B-CU, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 7 P.M.
Louis Lipthratt (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6 K) vs. Jason Woodward (0-1, 6.75 ERA, 7 K)

at B-CU, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 6 P.M.
Gabriel White (0-1, 7.36 ERA, 3 K) vs. Tyler Shuck (0-0, 12.00, 4 K)

at B-CU, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1 P.M.
Joan Gonzalez (0-1, 9.00 ERA, 4 K) vs. Najer Victor (1-0, 1.59 ERA, 10 K)

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 638-387-3 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 58 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 87 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 43 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. 25, 2021-22), 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 24 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, 2020 Fall, and 2021 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. 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.