FORT MYERS, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast University baseball hosts Florida Atlantic at Hammond Stadium, home of the Minnesota Twins and Mighty Mussels, Tuesday at 6 p.m. for another battle of the birds.
Tickets for Tuesday start at $13.50 for general admission. To buy, visit MLB Tickets.com by clicking the available link. Know before you go with Hammond Stadium Entry Guidelines and the Ballpark A to Z Guide.
Last Tuesday against Florida Atlantic, Vincent Samuel delivered a walk-off hit at Swanson Stadium to topple the then 19-5 Owls, 3-2. Florida Atlantic was receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Top 25 Poll at the time. Since then, FAU has lost four straight by being swept by UTSA on the road. The Owls now enter the midweek battle at 19-9 overall and 2-4 in the American. Florida Atlantic is 17-3 at home but 2-6 away from Boca Raton.
FAU defeated Miami 2-1 earlier this season, while No. 6 Georgia needed three walk-off miracles to put away the upset-minded Eagles. Georgia has improved to 28-2 overall and No. 3 in the country.
When facing Florida Atlantic, FGCU is 18-17 all-time. Tuesday will mark the 36th all-time meeting between the programs in the series that dates back to 2008. The Eagles are 5-5 in the last 10 games against FAU, but FGCU has won the last two meetings.
On Saturday, the Eagles (10-18, 2-7 ASUN) avoided the conference road sweep at North Florida courtesy of a strong pitching performance from two-way player Evan Dempsey. Dempsey struck out 10 Ospreys in 6.0 scoreless innings of work in game two of the Saturday doubleheader. Ryland Bozenhard earned the save by pitching the final three innings, securing the 3-0 shutout win.
Offensively, Harrison Povey leads the Eagles in the home run department with eight this season, currently ranking third across the ASUN landscape. He has 49 round-trippers in his career and is chasing Joe Kinker (61) to be the all-time home runs leader at FGCU. In overall average, Robert Moya boasts a team-leading .301 up at the plate.