DeLAND, Fla. - After battling through the loser's bracket and making it to Championship Sunday, Florida Gulf Coast emerged victorious as the Eagles defeated Stetson University 6-5 (6) in the Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball Championship from Melching Field.
The Eagles earned the win in the only game completed Sunday. Lightning in the vicinity stopped play at 2:38 p.m. and play would never restart. An effort was made to begin play once again at 5:50 p.m., but right after Stetson re-took the field, lightning in the area stopped play again. A lengthy stoppage for rain followed, with the tarp remaining on the field until after 9 p.m. With the tarp still on the field, the decision was made by the Atlantic Sun Conference to end play for the day with FGCU being declared the winner of the game and both teams being declared the champions of the event.
"I am proud of our student-athletes and coaches on their ASUN Tournament Co-Championship," said FGCU director of intercollegiate athletics
Colin Hargis. "They represented FGCU to the highest level throughout the tournament and battled their way to Championship Sunday. With that being said, I am deeply disappointed that weather conditions prevented our team the chances to finish the tournament and compete for a spot in the NCAA Tournament."
"I don't think there's a word for the amount of pride I have in these guys," said an emotional FGCU head coach
Dave Tollett. "I've been doing this for a long time. I've been around a long time and have never seen a team so decimated with injuries and have never seen a team that found a way to overcome it. There was a rough patch where we were 1-7 [in conference] and to get where we are right now today, I thought we were the best team in the conference. We were playing better than anyone. We had to get some sweeps to get into the tournament, but I'll tell you what, down the stretch they were a pretty elite group of guys to coach."
For a coach that prides himself in his team having a blue collar mentality, the 2025 edition perhaps embodied that spirit most of all. "They fall in line with the greatest teams we've ever had here. They're conference champs," Tollett said. "They're conference tournament champs and they were just absolutely outstanding all the way through this."
FGCU (31-29) took a 2-0 lead in the first as Tournament Co-MVP
Jaret Nelson doubled home
Evan Dempsey with the first run, then
Tyler Herb punched a single to left to score Nelson. Stetson (40-20) went ahead with a run in the second and three runs in the third, but the Eagles came back off the mat. Nelson came through again with a two-run blast in the fifth to tie the game, 4-4. The Eagles would then load up the bases with two men out. On a 1-1 pitch,
Jon Embury would get plunked to force home a run and give the Eagles the lead.
Jake McKee would draw a walk on a 3-2 pitch to give the Eagles a two-run cushion.
The insurance runs in the top of the fifth would prove to be huge. Stetson would pick up a run with a bases loaded walk to make it 6-5, but Dempsey would induce a 5-4-3 double play to get the Eagles out of the inning. In the sixth,
Jordan Vera would give up a hit but would get out of the inning to keep the lead for the Eagles.
That would be the final inning FGCU would play this season. With senior
Mac Moise standing on second after a walk and a failed pickoff attempt, the delays began. Then came the lightning. Then the rain. Then the end of the season. The Eagles won on Championship Sunday. They claimed the trophy. While the chance to clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament would be taken away, the team played from just after noon Saturday until just almost 12:30 a.m. to earn a spot on Championship Sunday. When the conference decided only one game would be considered completed on Championship Sunday after over nine hours at the ballpark, the Eagles were the team that were ahead on the scoreboard. The Eages won the game that was played on Championship Sunday.
They also left DeLand with the trophy proclaiming them champions.
ASUN All-Tournament Team Members from FGCU:
Logan Baisley
Ryland Bozenhard
Evan Dempsey
Jake McKee
Jaret Nelson - Co-MVP
