DELAND, Fla. - A season which featured a turnaround from a tough start that ended with 30 wins and a conference regular season championship came to an end Saturday as Florida Gulf Coast University fell 9-3 to Stetson University in the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball Championship at Melching Field.
After beginning the year 5-0, the Eagles finish the season 30-26. With a 20-10 record in ASUN regular season play, the Eagles also earned a share of the regular season title.
"The guys worked really hard to go from where we were to where we finished," said FGCU head coach
Dave Tollett. "I'm really proud of the effort they put in to keep getting better and to get to this point. They earned every win they got this year. I know we're not happy with how the season ended, but I am happy with the work that went into improving day by day."
Saturday's game had a myriad of missed opportunities for the Eagles as FGCU left a dozen men on base. Conversely, Stetson (39-20) took full advantage of its chances. The Hatters left five men on base but only left three men on base in innings in which they didn't score.
"We had our opportunities, we just couldn't cash in," Coach Tollett said. "We made a couple of mistakes defensively that let the game get away from us a bit. It's disappointing it ended the way it did, but we still did a lot of good things along the way to be in the position to play in that game today."
Cameron Bye (3-1) pitched well, but trailed 3-0 after five innings. In the sixth, the Eagles would have another golden opportunity after loading the bases with one out. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning,
Charles Davalan got FGCU on the board by drawing a walk to end an eight-pitch at bat, making it 3-1.
Stetson would answer back in the bottom of the inning via a solo homer. The game would get away from the Eagles an inning later as an error led to five unearned runs, making it 9-1.
The Eagles would pull closer in the ninth as
Robert Moya connected on his 16th homer of the season. His two-run blast trailed over the wall in right, scoring
Ian Farrow to make it a 9-3 ballgame.
In the end, the deficit would be too much to overcome and the Eagles would fall by six runs. Stetson would be the team to move on to face Kennesaw State University in the final Sunday.
Farrow closed the season on a 32-game streak of reaching base safely. Moya would break a tie with Farrow for the team lead in homers, while
Jacob Lojewski would finish as the team's leader in RBI with 55.
