CARY, N.C. and SANFORD, Fla. – FGCU two-way player Evan Dempsey continues to set the standard in Division I baseball as the Eagles' junior was named D1Baseball's Midseason Player of the Year. He also racked up numerous other awards this week as FGCU is 28 games into the 2026 season.

With that honor, the Tampa native was listed on D1Baseball.com's Midseason All-America First Team. He also was named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List and also claimed midseason first team All-America honors from Perfect Game.

Dempsey has taken his game to an even higher level as a junior this spring, with no other two-way player anywhere close to his stratosphere (and most one-way players wishing they had his kind of stats). He is putting up All-America-caliber numbers as both a pitcher (3-1, 2.89 with a dazzling 64-11 K-BB mark in 43 2/3 IP over seven starts) and as a hitter (.402/.508/.647 with four homers, 13 doubles, 25 RBIs, with 17 walks against just 15 strikeouts). It should be no surprise, then, that he leads all of college baseball in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) at 3.35, beating second-place Landon Hairston (3.19) of Arizona State.

FGCU's All-American established himself as an elite pitcher last spring, when he posted a 1.97 ERA along with a 75-20 K-BB in 68 2/3 IP, thriving in the rotation over the final 10 weeks after starting the season in the bullpen. Though his ERA is up a bit from a year ago, his peripheral numbers are better: his strikeout rate is up (from 26% to 36.8%), his walk rate is slightly down (from 6.9% to 6.3%), and opponents are hitting just .182 against him, down from .225 last year.

Dempsey, the 2025 John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year, is one of just three players on the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List that is from a non-P4 program and just one of seven players at a Florida program to be recognized. He is the only Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) player listed.

Among the Perfect Game's Midseason All-America First Team, Dempsey is also just one of three players from a non-P4 program and one of four players listed from a Florida-based team. Among all three Midseason All-America Teams published by Perfect Game, he is just one of 12 players from a non-P4 program and one of seven from Florida-based teams. Among both lists, he is the only ASUN player recognized.

Offensively this season, Dempsey has a .393 batting average, which ranks second in the ASUN behind only teammate Javier Gorostola (.432). Dempsey leads the league and ranks 10^th nationally in doubles (13) and his 42 hits ranks 57^th nationally and fourth in the ASUN, with two of the three ASUN players above him also wearing the Green and Blue.

On the mound, Dempsey leads the nation in complete games (2), ranks fifth nationally in total strikeouts (64) and 30^th in WHIP (0.89), leading the conference in all three categories. He also leads the ASUN in ERA (2.89), hits allowed per nine innings (5.77) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.82).

Dempsey and FGCU are back in action this evening at West Georgia with a 6 p.m. ET start in the first of a three-game ASUN series.
 
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