JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The FGCU baseball team crushed 12 home runs in two games on Friday, splitting a doubleheader with North Florida. After dropping game one, 8-7, in 11 innings, the Eagles came back to win the nightcap, 15-7.
The Eagles finish the regular season with a 34-21 record and 17-13 mark in league play while UNF finishes the regular season at 21-32 overall and 11-18 in league play. The Eagles know they will begin the ASUN Tournament on Tuesday while the Ospreys will have to wait to see what happens in tomorrow's games around the conference.
"This is the time of the year that you want to be hot and pretty much everyone in our lineup is rolling," said head coach
Dave Tollett. "Seven different players hit home runs today which is not something you can say very often. I don't want to forget about
Darien Smith, who gave us six great innings in the second game tonight, he gave us just what we needed as we head into the tournament."
Entering today, the Eagles had only ever hit six home runs in a game twice in program history. Now they have done it four times after hitting six in both games today. Six different players –
Brian Ellis,
Joe Kinker,
Alejandro Rodriguez,
Ian Farrow,
Harrison Povey, and
Logan Sartori – hit home runs in game one while
Alejandro Figueredo stole the show in game two, becoming the first player in program history to hit three in one game. Farrow, Rodriguez, and Povey also hit home runs in game two.
In game one, the Eagles hit all six of their home runs in the first four innings to take a 7-3 lead after four innings. However, the Ospreys came back with two runs in the seventh and three in the ninth to tie the game at eight and send the game to extra innings. In the 11th, UNF hit a walk-off double take the game.
In the second game, Figueredo gave the Eagles the early lead with a two-run shot in the first inning. After the Ospreys tied the game in the home half of the first with a two-run home of their own, Figueredo gave the Eagles the lead again in the third with a three-run home run. Rodriguez extended the Eagle lead two batters later with a two-run shot, his second of the day.
The Eagles added five more runs in the sixth as Ellis hit an RBI double before Farrow and Figueredo went back-to-back to give the Eagles a 12-2 lead. For Farrow, his home run, a three-run blast, was his 20th of the season, tying the single-season record held by Zach Maxfield (2009) and Nick Rivera (2017).
The Ospreys made it interesting with five runs in the seventh, but Povey put the game on ice with a three-run homer in the ninth, his 15th of the season.
Junior
Darien Smith (Jacksonville, Fla./University Christian HS/Eastern Florida State College/Jacksonville) got the start on the mound for the Eagles in game two and threw six innings while allowing just two runs, only one earned, and striking out a pair.
The other notable accomplishment in the doubleheader was that Ellis reached base in both games to extend his on-base streak to 66 games, breaking the FGCU record which was held by Maxfield. Ellis hit a home run to lead off game one before leading off game two with a clean single to center.
The Eagles will return home on Tuesday to begin the ASUN Tournament. The Eagles will be in Pool A alongside Liberty and Kennesaw State. The fourth team in Pool A will be the West Division winner, which is yet to be decided with four teams – Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville, State, Lipscomb, and Central Arkansas – still all alive for the division crown.
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 670-406-3 overall record (.623) and a 226-128(.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.
