FORT MYERS, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast University baseball clinched the series over Central Arkansas with a 7-6 come-from-behind victory Saturday at Swanson Stadium.
"Great come-from-behind win," head coach Dave Tollett. "Five innings of scoreless baseball from our bullpen, that's great to see. We didn't get a good start. We got an OK start from Hartman but turned it over to our bullpen. Some big hits as our kids kept fighting when we were down. Just a great series win."
The Eagles scored three in the seventh to take its second Atlantic Sun Conference series of the season. With the win, the Green and Blue improved to .500 on the year, now sitting at 14-14 overall and 7-4 in the ASUN.
FGCU stared down a 4-0 deficit through just two and a half complete. Central Arkansas scored four of its six runs Saturday on two outs. The Eagles responded with a four-run second inning to tie the game, but UCA would connect on its second two-run blast of the afternoon – retaking the lead in the fourth 6-4.
In the bottom of the seventh, Robert Moya homered to right to cut the Eagles' deficit to one. The Bears soon struggled with the afternoon Florida sun as Javier Gorostola's double to shallow left dropped harmlessly between two UCA outfielders, scoring Mac Moise to tie the game once again.
Evan Dempsey answered the call to drive in FGCU's go-ahead and game-winning run with an RBI single up the middle, his third RBI of the day. Dempsey finished the day 2-for-4 and emerged as the only multi-hit Eagle in Saturday's win.
The Eagle bullpen recorded five scoreless innings to provide the proper ingredients for the comeback. Jake Bunz tossed 1.2 innings in relief of starter Lucas Hartman, and Alejandro Valiente earned his first win of the year by throwing the final 3.1 innings. Valiente picked up a huge strikeout in the eighth with a runner on base.
FGCU eyes its second ASUN series sweep on Sunday. First pitch at Swanson Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.
