FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU baseball team travels north this weekend for a big series with Liberty. The two teams will kick off the series on Friday at 6 p.m. before playing Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m.

Both teams are coming off midweek losses to top-10 teams. The Eagles fell to #7 Miami, 5-2, in Coral Gables while the Flames came up short at #3 Virginia, 7-2, in Charlottesville. Overall the Eagles sit 20-9 and 7-2 in the ASUN while Liberty is 17-10 and 4-5 in conference play.

This will be the first time the Eagles leave the state of Florida this season and will have to deal with colder weather as the temperature for all three games could be in the 40s.

National Leaders
The Eagles are in the top 25 in multiple categories after seven weeks of play.

Team
Base on Balls – 154, 22nd
Batting Average – .312, 15th
Doubles – 71, 9th
Doubles-per-game – 2.45, 13th
Hit-by-pitch – 69, 2nd
Hits – 324, 8th
On-Base Percentage – .429, 6th
Runs – 280, 6th
Scoring – 9.7, 9th
Slugging Percentage – .512, 20th
 
Individual
Base on Balls – Joe Kinker, 28, 12th
BB/Game – Joe Kinker, 0.97, 21st
Doubles – Brian Ellis, 13, 15th
Games Started – Jason Woodward, 7, 24th
Games Started – Tyler Shuck, 7, 24th
Games Started – Najer Victor, 7. 24th
HBP – Brian Ellis, 16, 2nd
HBP – Luis Rodriguez, 12, 17th
HBP/Game – Brian Ellis, 0.55, 4th
Hits – Alejandro Figueredo, 48, 12th
Hits/Game – Alejandro Figueredo, 1.66, 24th
OBP – Brian Ellis, .547, 6th
Runs – Brian Ellis, 42, 2nd
Runs – Ian Farrow, 41, 4th
Runs – Joe Kinker, 37, 17th
Runs/game – Brian Ellis, 1.45, 3rd
Runs/game – Ian Farrow, 1.41, 6th
RBI – Ian Farrow, 39, 11th
RBI – Harrison Povey, 37, 21st
 
D1 Baseball Recognizes Eagles
D1baseball.com released its first set of mid-season positional power rankings and multiple Eagles found themselves ranked.

Alejandro Rodriguez is #29 among catchers which is impressive considering he was not expected to catch before the season started. After a couple of injuries to catchers, Rodriguez went behind the plate and has been hard-pressed to give it up as he is hitting .376 with three home runs, 31 RBI, and 22 runs scored. He's also really hard to strike out as he is among the nation's leaders at 11.6 at-bats per strikeout.

Joe Kinker comes in as the 14th-ranked first baseman after he has been tearing the cover off the ball to begin the season, slashing .311/.479/.633 with 7 HR and 25 RBI. He is also second in the nation in walks with 28 and seventh in runs with 34.

Alejandro Figueredo came in at #27 among third basemen and may have only improved his stock after going 4-for-4 against Miami which raised his batting average to an astounding .436. He has also socked five home runs, five doubles, a triple, and driven in 42 runs.

In the outfield, all three - Ian Farrow, Brian Ellis, and Harrison Povey - were ranked in the top 100, one of just five teams along with Tennessee, Florida, Virginia, and Mercer, to place all three in the rankings. Farrow clocks in at #35, Ellis at #39, and Povey at #91 as they are all hitting above .375 and have combined for 20 home runs, 94 RBI, and 102 runs scored.

Jason Woodward also claimed a spot on the power rankings as he comes in at #83 among starting pitchers, improving 61 spots in from the preseason rankings. He is currently 3-1 on the season with a 1.93 ERA and 37 strikeouts while walking just 11 and holding opposing hitters to a .177 batting average.
 
Farrow Named ASUN Player of the Week
After a big week at the plate, Ian Farrow was named ASUN Baseball Player of the Week (March 21). He helped lead the Eagles to a 4-0 week against North Dakota State and Stetson as he hit .625 (10-for-16) with two home runs, two doubles, six RBI, and 12 runs scored. He also walked five times and was hit by a pitch for a .727 on-base percentage which contributed to an OPS of 1.852.
 
Ellis Picks Up ASUN Weekly Honors
For the first time in his career, redshirt-junior Brian Ellis (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) was named ASUN Player of the Week (Feb 28). Including the game against Minnesota, Ellis hit .556 (10-for-18) with four doubles , two home runs, 12 RBI and had an OPS of 1.747.
 
Victor Honored by ASUN
Sophomore Najer Victor (Philadelphia, Pa./East Ridge HS) was named ASUN Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 21) after tossing 5.2 innings, giving up just two hits and one earned run while striking out 10 and walking none against Cincinnati in the season-opening series.. 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.
 
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.
 
Scouting the Competition
Liberty enters the weekend with a 17-10 record after falling to #3 Virginia, 7-2, on Wednesday. In the ASUN, they sit at 4-5, having dropped their last two series to Jacksonville and Stetson. They do have big wins this season over #9 Florida (2x) and #15 North Carolina.

The Flames were picked to win the ASUN in the preseason, collecting nine of 12 first-place votes, while the Eagles were selected second with the other three first-place votes. Liberty's Aaron Anderson (Preseason Player of the Year), Jaylen Guy (Preseason Defensive Player of the Year), and Trey Gibson (Preseason Pitcher of the Year) all picked up individual honors as well.

Derek Orndorff leads Liberty with a .324 and is 10th in the country with 12 home runs. He has also stolen 12 bases to lead the team.

On the mound, Garrett Horn leads the Flames with a 1.23 ERA and will get the start on Friday night. Out of the pen, Mason Fluharty paces the team with 44 strikeouts in just 24.0 innings while pitching to a 1.50 ERA.

Probable Pitching Matchups
AT LIBERTY, FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 6 P.M.
RHP Jason Woodward (3-2, 3.29 ERA, 42 K) vs. RHP Garrett Horn (1-0, 1.23 ERA, 38 K)

AT LIBERTY, SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 4 P.M.
RHP Tyler Shuck (4-1, 3.52 ERA, 32 K) vs. RHP Dylan Cumming (1-1, 3.96 ERA, 21 K)

AT LIBERTY, SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 11 A.M.
TBA vs. LHP Joe Adametz III (2-2, 2.16 ERA, 30 K)

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COACH TOLLETT
FGCU coach Dave Tollett currently owns a 656-394-3 overall record (.623) and a 218-117 (.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 89 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 10 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. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) 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 25 consecutive semesters. The past five semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2021) 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.