Jacob Lojewski's two-run single in the seventh put the Eagles ahead for good as Florida Gulf Coast University defeated the University of South Florida 7-5 Tuesday night in Tampa, Fla., sweeping the season series between the two schools.
Another back-and-forth contest between the two sides, the Eagles rallied from a 4-3 hole to take the lead in the seventh. With the bases loaded and no one out, Lojewski shot a single through the left side of the USF infield to give the Eagles (18-17) a 5-4 advantage. From there, the Eagles added single runs over the final two innings. First,
Ian Farrow ripped an opposite field homer to make it a 6-4 game in the eighth. In the ninth,
Charles Davalan connected on a single back up the middle to score
Evan Dempsey and make it 7-4.
Nick Love pitched the final three innings for the Eagles, allowing just a lone run on a ninth inning sacrifice fly to pick up his first save of the season. Love struck out three batters, including the final batter of the game.
FGCU took an early lead as Lojewski doubled down the line in left to plate Dempsey in the second. After USF tied the game in the bottom of the inning, Dempsey came up with another big hit in the third. A thorn in USF's side this season after hitting the walk-off single back up the middle in the first meeting of the year, Dempsey sent another shot back up the middle to plate a pair in the third.
USF (21-16) used an infield hit to score a run in the fourth, then the first two balks of the season against FGCU enabled the Bulls to score twice in the sixth.
Jake Bunz had a strong start for FGCU, allowing one run on three hits in two innings.
Cameron Bye worked 2.2 innings, giving up just one run.
Matt Kavanaugh (1-1) picked up the win for FGCU, with Love getting the final nine outs for the save.
Winners of three out of their last four, the Eagles will be home at Swanson Stadium in Fort Myers to take on Austin Peay State University this Friday to start an ASUN series. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
