For the entire season, FGCU head coach
Dave Tollett has said his team will be much better team at the end of the season than they were at the beginning of the season.
Demoralizing losses to No. 5 TCU, Xavier, Florida State and Fairfield had the Eagles at 5-10 15 games into the season coming off the first time the team had been no hit in program history. Before conference play started, the season felt like it was already on the brink.
Fast forward over two months later. The Eagles went 24-14 over their final 34 games. FGCU had the emergence of three freshmen in the starting lineup. Seniors stepped up to become leaders. And when the final out was recorded in the regular season, the Eagles had done something special.
Jacob Lojewski had seven RBI, five different Eagles connected for homers, and FGCU rolled to an 18-8 win over UNF, sweeping the series in Jacksonville, Fla., and earning a share of the Atlantic Sun Conference regular season championship.
"Where this team came from being 5-10 is one of the greatest turnarounds in the history of this program," Coach Tollett said.
FGCU had 17 runs by the end of the sixth inning. The scoring started early as a throwing error allowed Lojewski to score the first run of the game, then
Trevor Kole dumped a single into right to score
Harrison Povey and make it 2-0.
Lojewski would get FGCU on the board in a big way in the third. With two men on, the redshirt junior ripped a three-run blast over the fence in left to give the Eagles a 5-0 lead.
UNF would score a run in the third, then in the fourth, rain and lightning would descend on Jacksonville, and the game would be delayed for over two hours. When play resumed, the Eagles had runners on first and second and one out. Two batters later, the pads were loaded for Lojewski, who ripped a two-run double to left to make it 7-1.
Javier Gorostola would follow with a single to left and the Eagles had an 8-1 advantage.
FGCU would light up the sky fifth thanks to three big bombs.
Charles Davalan ripped a one-out homer to right for the first shot of the frame. Two batters later,
Ian Farrow hit his 15th blast of the season to dead center to make it 10-1. After a walk and a pitching change,
Robert Moya had his fifth homer of the week, as this one was a towering blast to left center, giving the Eagles a dozen runs.
The runs kept coming an inning later. Povey sent a 408 foot blast down the line in right to make it 13-1.
Mac Moise joined in on the action with an RBI single through the left side for 14-1. A Farrow double to the wall in left center scored another run to make it 15-1, and
Evan Dempsey's RBI single would stretch the advantage to 16-1. The hit by Dempsey meant that every Eagle starter had a hit and an RBI. One more run would cross for FGCU as Lojewski drew a bases loaded walk for his sixth RBI of the game, making it 17-1.
UNF (21-30-1, 11-17-1 ASUN) was playing for its season and mounted a rally in the seventh to score seven times, making it 17-8 and extending the game at least one more inning. The eighth would prove to be fruitful again for Lojewski as he drove in his seventh run of the game with a double into the corner in left.
With a spot in the ASUN Championship locked up, including a likely spot in Pool A, the Eagles used a lot of arms.
Justin Henschel started and went two scoreless innings before giving way to
Ryland Bozenhard, who gave up one run in an inning.
Chase Kriebel (4-2) was given the win by the official scorer by being the most effective arm out of the bullpen as he did not give up a run in 2.2 innings of work.
Dalton Robinson would be the final FGCU pitcher as he recorded the final four outs unscathed.
FGCU will now wait to see what seed it is given in the ASUN Championship. FGCU entered Saturday with the third-best RPI in the ASUN, which would give the Eagles a slot in Pool A.
