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DeLAND, Fla. – Playing in arguably the most important-yet-meaningless game of the 2023 season, the FGCU baseball team took care of business Friday afternoon by defeating the Liberty Flames 15-12 to finish pool play undefeated in the ASUN Championship Tournament.
 
The Eagles (41-17) vanquished the Flames, the Lipscomb Bisons and the Jacksonville Dolphins to earn the top spot in Pool A – locking them into Saturday's first semifinal game against Pool B winner and seventh-seeded Jacksonville State. That game is set for an 11 a.m. first pitch from Melching Field at Conrad Park.
 
Friday's game was irrelevant in that both FGCU and Liberty had already earned semifinal berths – the Green & Blue doing so on the strength of Thursday's 6-5 comeback win against top-seeded Lipscomb. Had the second-seeded Eagles lost Friday against the ASUN preseason favorite Flames, Liberty would have advanced to play Jacksonville State instead of falling into Saturday's second semifinal against Lipscomb.
 
"I told them 'Look, you play me in ping-pong and I'm going to want to beat you in ping-pong'," said FGCU head baseball coach Dave Tollett. "They're keeping score, so let's go play. Anytime you keep score, there is something on the line. And our kids went out and played."
 
Graduate infielder Alejandro Figueredo (Sucre, Venezuela/West Oaks HS/Seminole State) homered twice against Liberty as part of a four-homer FGCU barrage. Sophomore outfielder Harrison Povey (Indian Rocks Beach, Fla./Largo HS) and redshirt sophomore infielder Trevor Kole (Parkland, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons HS) also went deep – giving FGCU a nation-best 135 home runs this season.
 
"We are looking forward to tomorrow against a really good Jacksonville State team," Tollett said. "Pool play is behind us. We swung the bats, and got a really good performance from (redshirt junior pitcher) Dawson Place. So now we get a bit of rest and get ready for the semifinals."
 
The Flames and Eagles traded offensive punches throughout the first six innings before FGCU broke away with a four-run seventh. The decisive flurry began when graduate outfielder Brian Ellis (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) laid down a perfect bunt that hugged the third-base line and ricocheted off third base itself – allowing Kole to round third with enough momentum to score.
 
Figueredo followed two batters later with a two-run single down the right-field line, and he scored all the way from first on a Povey double into the right-center field gap to make it 14-9. Figueredo finished 3-for-4 with four runs scored and five RBIs – as his opposite-field, two-run homer in the fourth and a monster solo shot to left in the sixth accounted for the rest of his offense.
 
Kole also went 3-for-4 with four runs scored and three RBIs – slapping an RBI single the opposite way in the second and then tattooing a two-run blast in the third for his third homer in as many days. Povey and Ellis each had two hits as part of FGCU's 15-hit attack.
 
Place scattered four hits and struck out five over 3 2/3 innings to earn his first victory of the season. Ryan Butler absorbed the loss for Liberty.
 
FGCU is 2-1 all-time against Jacksonville State, claiming the series with a 12-5 victory at Swanson Stadium on April 23.
 
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COACH TOLLETT
FGCU coach Dave Tollett currently owns a 712-425-3 record (.626) and a 248-140 (.639) 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 63 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, two National Freshman All-Americans, 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 (https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/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 https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 98 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 49 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Nine FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 20 in 2021-22 and No. 22 in 2022-23), baseball (No. 15 in 2023), beach volleyball (No. 20 in 2022), and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as five of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & 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 3.57 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019-Fall 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. 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.
 
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