KENNESAW, Ga. – After dropping game one of the day to Kennesaw State, 8-4, on Saturday, the FGCU baseball team rebounded nicely in game two with a 14-3 victory to salvage a split in the doubleheader. The Eagles now sit with a record of 28-18 and 13-10 mark in ASUN play while the Owls go 27-20 and 15-8 in conference action.
"I'm happy with the way we responded this afternoon," said head coach
Dave Tollett. "We got contributions up-and-down the lineup with a four-hit performance from Ellis in the leadoff spot and Bobby [Head] getting his first home run in the nine-hole. Carter also provided a great performance today out of the pen to let us pull away late for a comfortable victory. We'll look to carry this momentum into tomorrow."
In the victory in game two, the Eagles got two solo home runs from graduate student
Bobby Head (Winter Garden, Fla./West Orange HS/Austin Peay) and junior
Joe Kinker (North Port, Fla./Venice HS) early before pulling away with 11 runs in the final three innings.
Senior
Gus Carter (Melbourne, Fla./Eau Gallie HS/Florida Southwestern State) earned the win by throwing 3.1 shutout innings in relief while striking out five and allowing just one hit.
Sophomore
Ian Farrow (Merritt Island, Fla./Merritt Island HS) gave the Eagles the early lead with a single in the third before Head and Kinker extended the lead to 3-0 with solo home runs in the fourth and fifth, respectively.
Senior
Tyler Shuck (Cape Coral, Fla./Canterbury HS) got the start for the Eagles on the mound and began the game with four scoreless innings, but the Owls got on the board in the fifth and tied up the game with two runs in the sixth.
The Eagles did not waste any time in re-taking the lead as they put up five runs in the seventh inning. With no outs and the bases loaded, junior
Alejandro Figueredo (Sucre, Venezuela/West Oaks HS/Seminole State) brought home two with a single before Kinker nearly hit his second home run, settling for an RBI double off the wall. A wild pitch brought in the fourth run of the inning before Kinker scored on a groundout to the pitcher, breaking for home as the pitcher threw it to first, stealing the fifth run to cap off the inning.
In the eighth, after redshirt-junior
Brian Ellis (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) singled home a run, Farrow got the Eagles to double-digits with a sacrifice fly.
Ellis added two more RBI on his fourth hit of the day in the ninth before sophomore
Kyle Machado (Punta Gorda, Fla./Charlotte HS) joined the party with a two-run single of his own. With his performance today, Ellis has now reached base in all 46 games this season and 57 straight going back to 2021.
In game one on Saturday, the Eagles took an early 1-0 lead after one inning before the Owls answered with four in the second. Farrow hit a three-run home run in the fourth to tie the game back up, but Kennesaw retook the lead with two runs in the fifth before adding two insurance runs in the seventh to claim the victory.
The Eagles will look for the series victory tomorrow with first pitch from Stillwell Baseball Stadium set for 1 p.m.
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COACH TOLLETT
FGCU coach Dave Tollett currently owns a 664-403-3 overall record (.623) and a 222-125 (.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.
