JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The FGCU baseball team officially clinched a spot in next week's ASUN tournament as they defeated North Florida, 10-3, Thursday evening. The Eagles improve to 33-20 and 16-12 in the ASUN while UNF falls to 20-31 and 10-17 in conference play. Based on RPI, the Eagles had essentially clinched a postseason berth already, but the victory tonight solidifies a top-three spot in the ASUN East division.
"We knew we needed to win one game this weekend to secure our spot and I'm happy we took care of business in game one," said head coach
Dave Tollett. "We have so many guys that are capable of coming up with a clutch hit and tonight really showed that with multiple players having a couple of hits and RBI. Gus [Carter] was also great for us on the mound. He was throwing strikes all night and allowed his defense to make the plays behind him. We are not done yet this weekend as we'll look to win the two games tomorrow and ride the momentum through the ASUN tournament back at Swanson."
It was a balanced effort at the plate tonight as four different players had two hits and four players had two RBI. Sophomore
Ian Farrow (Merritt Island, Fla./Merritt Island HS) and junior
Luis Rodriguez (Guarenas, Venezuela/Miami Christian HS/Santa Fe College/Dyersburg State) had the two big blows, a pair of two-run home runs.
Redshirt-junior
Brian Ellis (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) also picked up two hits in the game to extend his on-base streak to 64 straight games, now just one shy of Zach Maxfield's FGCU record.
Senior
Gus Carter (Melbourne, Fla./Eau Gallie HS/Florida Southwestern State) got just his second start of the season and was great, throwing 6.2 innings while allowing just two runs and striking out two and walking none. Junior
Nick Love (Fernandina Beach, Fla./Yulee/Central College of Florida/Jacksonville) picked up his second save of the season, striking out a pair in the final 2.1 innings.
After two scoreless innings to begin the game, the Eagles got on the board in the second with a run-scoring double play. Freshman
Harrison Povey (Indian Rocks Beach, Fla./Largo HS) doubled the Eagle lead in the fourth with an RBI single.
The Ospreys clawed back and tied the game with a run in the fifth and sixth, but Farrow put the Green and Blue back on top for good in the seventh with a two-run homer, his 18th of the season. He is now tied with junior
Joe Kinker (North Port, Fla./Venice HS) for the team lead as the duo have battled it out for the last couple of weeks.
The Eagles put the game away in the eighth as they scored six runs in the inning. Heads up baserunning by Kinker provided the first run of the inning as he came into score on a groundout to first. Rodriguez followed with his fourth home run of the season before Ellis and junior
Alejandro Figueredo (Sucre, Venezuela/West Oaks HS/Seminole State) hit RBI doubles.
UNF got a run back in the bottom of the eighth, but Love closed out the game in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning, striking out the final two batters of the game.
The Eagles will look to take the series and possibly sweep the Ospreys tomorrow as the two teams will play a doubleheader with expected inclement weather on Saturday. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.
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COACH TOLLETT
FGCU coach Dave Tollett currently owns a 669-405-3 overall record (.623) and a 225-127 (.641) 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 92 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 45 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.
