JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The blessings of video review and Julia Bacoulis paid dividends for Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday afternoon in the opening round of the ASUN Championship.

The 5 seed Eagles (21-31) successfully challenged a pair of sixth inning calls to tie and later take the lead in a 2-1 win over 8 seed Austin Peay (30-24) that advanced FGCU to the second round of the ASUN Championship and ended the Governors season.

With FGCU trailing 1-0, Presley Smith led off the bottom half of the frame with a double to right center field, but was initially called out at second base in a close play. Head coach Lindsay Fico used a challenge and won, as the replay showed Smith's foot touching the base before the tag was applied.

J'Lyn Guyden entered to pinch run for Smith and was promptly moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt from Sophie Wylie. Sietske Drijvers chopped a ground ball to short, and Guyden bolted for home. Like Smith, she was initially called out on the field, but a lengthy review resulted in the second call of the inning being overturned, and Guyden's run tied the game at 1-1.

Nikki Gibson and Ally Thompson fed off the momentum in the box. Gibson flared a single into left field, and Thompson laid down a perfect bunt to load the bases for Mackenzie Leiti. Leiti hit a deep sacrifice fly to left field that easily scored Drijvers from first and put FGCU in front 2-1 heading to the seventh inning. 

The one run cushion was all Bacoulis needed, as the ASUN All-Freshman team selection was brilliant in the circle for FGCU. She quieted the Austin Peay lineup that had five all-ASUN players between the first and third teams, recording eight strikeouts; and spun a complete-game two hitter for her fourth complete game of the year.

"My screwball, my changeups were definitely really effective today," Bacoulis said. "It was easy to throw my dropball too, just knowing that my defense would be able to field anything that was coming towards them and make the plays."

"I'm super proud of the team today," Fico said. "Julia's performance in the circle was top notch. We knew if her changeup was on, she would be successful and give us time to get to them offensively. 

"Our lineup's resilience against Jones from Austin Peay was impressive. We knew it was going to be a tough day at the plate but we stuck to our plan and got the clutch hit when we needed it. It took everyone; our dugout was all in and they kept the momentum on our side. I'm super excited we found a way to extend our week and looking forward to another one tomorrow."



The Govs scratched across their lone unearned run in the top of the second. Ashlyn Dulaney struck out swinging, but advanced to first as the ball got away. Katie Raper singled and Shelby Allen walked to load the bases for Emilee Baker, who singled in a run, but the Eagles defense caught Raper wandering too far from second base and recorded a 9-6-2-5 putout to end the inning.

Bacoulis didn't allow a hit to Austin Peay for the rest of the game. 

Alanah Jones kept the Eagles off balance early and worked out of third and fourth inning jams for Austin Peay.

Next, FGCU moves into the double elimination portion of the bracket and will play 4 seed Jacksonville at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6.

The full bracket can be found here and the ASUN Championship central is here.

For more information on FGCU Softball, follow @FGCUSoftball on Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook, and visit fgcuathletics.com.

Postgame Notes
– Bacoulis tossed her second career two-hitter. She previously held Long Island to two hits in six innings in a run-rule win in her first career outing
– The ASUN All-Freshman team selection struck out eight Govs
– Drijvers and Leiti each had an RBI
– Thompson had a multi-hit game
– Bacoulis' two hits allowed ties her career low for a complete game
– Bacoulis didn't allow a hit after the second inning
– Bacoulis fanned first-team All-ASUN selection Sammie Shelander and third-team All-ASUN selections Kiley Hinton and Katie Raper
– Austin Peay's five all-conference hitters mustered both hits off Bacoulis (singles from Raper and Baker) but finished 2-for-14 on the day.
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