Evan Dempsey cranked his first two collegiate homers, including a first inning grand slam, but it was
Mac Moise's solo homer in the 10th that lifted Florida Gulf Coast University to an 8-7 win over cross-state rival Florida International University in Miami Wednesday night.
Dempsey had a tremendous night as a two-way performer for FGCU (6-10). In the first inning, his opposite field grand slam on a 1-1 pitch went for FGCU's first hit of the night and staked the Eagles to a 4-0 lead. The Tampa native would double and score in the third to stretch the Eagles' lead to 5-0. After pitching a scoreless fifth inning, the freshman went opposite field again, connecting for a solo blast in the sixth to give FGCU a 7-1 lead.
Still, FIU (9-8) would inch back into the game, tying the score at 7-7 in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Davian Garcia (1-1) would enter in relief with a runner on first and would pick off the runner without throwing his first pitch, sending the game to the ninth all tied up.
The score stayed the same until extra innings. Moise would be ahead in the count after taking a first pitch ball, then turned on the next offering sending it high into the Miami night and over the wall in left center to give the Eagles an 8-7 advantage.
After getting a pair of swinging strikeouts in the ninth, Garcia would head back out to the mound in the 10th. All three FIU batters would see 2-2 counts, and all three batters would suffer the same fate as Garcia closed the night with three strikeouts in a row to end the contest.
The Eagles had 11 hits on the night, but thanks in part to five walks and nine hit batters, FGCU left 17 men on base. The nine batters hit by a pitch are the second-most in a game this season in all of D-I. In addition to Dempsey's three hits, Moise,
Robert Moya, and
Javier Gorostola each had multi-hit nights.
Derek Crum started on the mound for FGCU and went three strong innings, allowing just two hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
Ryland Bozenhard allowed a run in an inning of work, with Dempsey and Garcia combining for 3.1 scoreless innings of relief.
The Eagles will be back home at Swanson Stadium in Fort Myers Friday to take on Bellarmine to open up Atlantic Sun Conference play. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
