FORT MYERS, Fla. - After seeing a 4-0 lead slip away, Florida Gulf Coast University rallied back to top the University of Central Arkansas 8-6 Friday afternoon in the opener of an Atlantic Sun Conference baseball series here at Swanson Stadium.
The Eagles (13-14, 6-4 ASUN) got a strong start from
Davian Garcia, who threw over 100 pitches in an outing that spanned 6.2 innings. "That's the best start we've had this year," said FGCU head coach
Dave Tollett. "That's what Friday night starts should look like at Florida Gulf Coast University. Davian gave us a start that brought back a lot of history."
Garcia was staked to a 4-0 lead by his squad. A three-base throwing error in the third on a grounder back to the mound by
Charles Davalan allowed
Evan Dempsey to score from first and put the Eagles on top, 1-0. An inning later,
Jacob Lojewski pulled a 2-2 offering down the line in left to double the FGCU advantage to 2-0. In the sixth, Dempsy would unload on a the second pitch of his at bat for a two-run blast to make it 4-0.
A leadoff homer in the seventh put the Bears (13-16, 4-6 ASUN) on the board. Garcia kept battling, but after a walk put two men on with two out, the hurler would be lifted after 6.2 solid innings of work. The change didn't slow down the UCA offense, however, as a walk loaded the bases for a two-run single and a two-run double, giving the Bears a 5-4 lead.
The Eagles came back to tie the game in the bottom of the inning thanks to a clutch two-out hit off the bat of
Harrison Povey. With runners on the corners, Povey dumped a single into right center to score Davalan with the tying run.
UCA took the lead back in the eighth. With
Justin Henschel taking over on the mound, the Bears used three singles to load the bases. Henschel would settle down, allowing a sacrifice fly to score the go-ahead run, but getting back-to-back strikeouts to retire the side with just one run scoring.
The Green & Blue would be the team to answer last in the run column.
Jason Roberts led off the eighth with a single, then after a walk to
Jake McKee led to a bunt single by Davalan to load the bases.
Robert Moya earned the game-tying RBI with a bases loaded walk, then Povey punched a sacrifice fly to center two batters later to score McKee with the go-ahead run.
Javier Gorostola closed the scoring by pulling a single down the line in left to make it 8-6.
Henschel (2-2) would retire the side in order in the ninth to end the contest as the Eagles opened the series with the win.
Garcia struck out a career-high eight batters in the FGCU win. He allowed just six hits and one walk in the outing.
The two teams will be back in action Saturday at 2 p.m.
