FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Florida Gulf Coast University baseball team's late rally comes up short Saturday in a 6-4 loss to visiting Fairfield University in game two of the series at Swanson Stadium.
FGCU (1-1) loaded the bases on a hit by pitch, a walk, and a single with no outs to start the bottom of the first. Following a strikeout with bases loaded, freshman left fielder
Aidan Corn drove in
Evan Dempsey off a sac fly to take an early 1-0 lead. Fairfield was able to get out of the inning with a ground out to second to leave a pair of Eagles in scoring position.
Fairfield tied the game in the top of the third off a solo home run and then took the lead in the fourth off a double, a walk and an RBI single to make it 2-1.
In the top of the sixth, Fairfield (1-1) added a run on a pair of hits to push its lead to 3-1. The Stags then added runs in the seventh and eighth innings to extend their lead to 6-1.
With FGCU down to its final three outs,
Tyler Herb reached first after being hit by a pitch and later stole second.
Jaret Nelson drew the team's second walk of the game to put runners on first and second. Both runners came around to score when shortstop
Nathan Gagnon connected for a three-run home run to cut it to 6-4. Fairfield, after that, shut down the Eagles rally, stifling the next three batters to end the game.
Harrison Povey,
Javier Gorostola, Gagon, and Dempsey each tallied a hit apiece for FGCU, while Povey and Herb recorded the team's first stolen bases of the season.
Starting pitcher Levent Edem went three innings while allowing two runs for FGCU. Reliever
Ryland Bozenhard finished with a game-high three strikeouts while taking the loss (0-1) for the Eagles.
FGCU looks to close out and win the home series against Fairfield on Sunday at 1 p.m.
