The selection show for the NCAA College Baseball Tournament has just been finalized for FGCU.
FGCU (42-18, 11-3 A-Sun) was selected in the Chapel Hill Regional of the Chapel Hill Super Regional in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. UNC will be hosting the regional since it is at Chapel Hill.
The four teams have been finalized in the regional and FGCU will face the University of Michigan (42-15, 16-8 Big Ten).
Joining FGCU and Michigan in the regional will be Davidson College (32-24, 13-11 A-10) and No. 2 UNC (47-12, 22-7 ACC).
The seed are listed as followed:
1. No. 2 UNC
2. FGCU
3. Michigan
4. Davidson
The Chapel Hill Regional will go against the Houston Regional in Houston, Texas. Four teams will be playing there in order:
1.Houston (40-19, 15-9 AAC)
2. Baylor (34-21, 12-12 Big 12)
3. Texas A&M (36-21, 16-14 SEC)
4. Iowa (38-20, 15-9 Big Ten)
Houston will be the host of the Houston Regional.
FGCU won the A-SUN Conference Tournament Championship and claimed an automatic bid this past Saturday after beating JU twice in the championship (4-2 in game 1 and 4-3 (10) in game 2).
It was the help of a variety of players from FGCU that help them win and the players to look for are A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera, A-SUN Freshman of the Year, Richie Garcia, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers, Kenton Hering, Sterling Koerner and A-SUN First Team All-Conference members, Julio Gonzalez and Kutter Crawford.
Rivera, a redshirt senior and the powerhouse of the team, currently lead the team and the A-SUN in home runs (17). His 17 home runs also helped him claim the record for most home runs overall in the A-SUN with 43. Rivera was also a A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN All-Tournament Team member. In the nation, Rivera is fourth in the nation in walks (57), eighth in the nation in walks per game (.95) and 22nd in the nation with 17 home runs.
Garcia, a freshman, is mainly known for his contact swing and popular walk-up song. To go with the A-SUN Freshman of the Year title, Garcia was also a member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team.
Coffers, also a freshman, was named to the A-SUN All-Freshman and A-SUN All-Tournament Team. Coffers also was named A-SUN All-Tournament Team MVP after batting .500 throughout the whole tournament. He had 10 hits, one home run, five RBI and five runs scored.
Hering, a redshirt junior and transfer from Eastern Florida State College, was the set up man for relief pitching. The Melbourne, Florida native went 2-0 with two saves and pitched in four of the six games throughout the whole tournament that were crucial including against Kennesaw State and the first game against JU. Hering (7-3-6, 2.04 ERA) was also named to the A-SUN All-Tournament Team.
Despite struggling in the series against JU in the season, Koerner is normally the closer for the team. The Ft. Pierce native leads the team in saves (12). The senior's save count is tied for 20th in the nation for most saves. Koerner had his only start of his senior season throwing 6.1 innings in a no decision against JU in the second championship game. He gave up three runs on six hits, walked one and struck out one.
Gonzalez, a junior college transfer from Seminole State College in Oklahoma, was an A-SUN First Team All-Conference member, and played a crucial role in the final game of the championship game. The Bayamon, Puerto Rico native hit a game-tying two run single that helped FGCU rout to the 4-3 win in the championship. Gonzalez is ranked 42nd in the nation in hits.
Crawford, also a junior college transfer from Indian River State College, only played one game in the tournament. In the opening game against UNF, Crawford threw eight shutout innings and gave up four hits, walk two batters and struck out 10. The Okeechobee native was named an A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and an A-SUN All-Tournament Team member. Crawford is No. 8 in the nation in ERA with a 1.58 ERA.
In the matchups, No. 2 FGCU will face No. 3 Michigan at 1 pm while No.1 UNC faces No. 4 Davidson at 6 pm.
All the matchups in the regionals will vary and air on ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ESPNews, ESPNU, and probably the SEC Network. Each regional is double elimination.
The winners of the Chapel Hill Regional and the Houston Regional will face each other in a best of three series in the Chapel Hill Super Regionals.
About Me
FGCU Baseball: Finalized Automatic Bids
As noted, FGCU is one of the teams that have punched their tickets to the regionals of the national tournament.
Listed are the 31 teams that have automatically qualified from their conference tournament:
1. UMBC- America East
2. Houston- AAC
3. FSU- ACC
4. FGCU- A-SUN
5. Davidson- A-10
6. Oklahoma State- Big 12
7. Xavier- Big East
8. Radford- Big South
9. Iowa- Big Ten
10. *Long Beach State- Big West
11. Delaware- Colonial
12. Rice- C-USA
13. UIC- Horizon
14. **Yale- Ivy League
15. Marist- MAAC
16. Ohio- MAC
17. Bethune-Cookman- MEAC
18. Dallas Baptist- MVC
19. San Diego State- MWC
20. Central Connecticut State- NEC
21. Tennessee Tech- OVC
22. *Oregon State- PAC 12
23. Holy Cross- Patriot
24. LSU- SEC
25. UNC Greensboro- SoCon
26. Sam Houston- Southland
27. Texas Southern- SWAC
28. Oral Roberts- Summit League
29. South Alabama- Sun Belt
30. BYU- WCC
31. Sacramento State- WAC
*Oregon State and Long Beach State do not have a conference tournament and won as a season champion.
** Yale played as one of two top teams in the Ivy League and won the first annual Ivy League Baseball Championship Series.
The ones that have not won their conference tournaments will have an at large bid for the tournament. The teams that qualify are based on Rating Percentage Index (RPI). RPI is is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule.
FGCU's schedule was pretty strong and had they lost to JU in either of the championship games, they would have a strong possibility to receive an at-large bid in the regionals.
Listed are the 31 teams that have automatically qualified from their conference tournament:
1. UMBC- America East
2. Houston- AAC
3. FSU- ACC
4. FGCU- A-SUN
5. Davidson- A-10
6. Oklahoma State- Big 12
7. Xavier- Big East
8. Radford- Big South
9. Iowa- Big Ten
10. *Long Beach State- Big West
11. Delaware- Colonial
12. Rice- C-USA
13. UIC- Horizon
14. **Yale- Ivy League
15. Marist- MAAC
16. Ohio- MAC
17. Bethune-Cookman- MEAC
18. Dallas Baptist- MVC
19. San Diego State- MWC
20. Central Connecticut State- NEC
21. Tennessee Tech- OVC
22. *Oregon State- PAC 12
23. Holy Cross- Patriot
24. LSU- SEC
25. UNC Greensboro- SoCon
26. Sam Houston- Southland
27. Texas Southern- SWAC
28. Oral Roberts- Summit League
29. South Alabama- Sun Belt
30. BYU- WCC
31. Sacramento State- WAC
*Oregon State and Long Beach State do not have a conference tournament and won as a season champion.
** Yale played as one of two top teams in the Ivy League and won the first annual Ivy League Baseball Championship Series.
The ones that have not won their conference tournaments will have an at large bid for the tournament. The teams that qualify are based on Rating Percentage Index (RPI). RPI is is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule.
FGCU's schedule was pretty strong and had they lost to JU in either of the championship games, they would have a strong possibility to receive an at-large bid in the regionals.
FGCU Baseball Conference Tournament Update 4: The Winner is... FGCU
It was gonna be a battle between two teams in the A-SUN Conference Baseball Tournament: No.1 JU and No. 3 FGCU. FGCU (41-18, 13-8 A-SUN) and JU (36-23, 16-5 A-SUN) are set to battle one to two more times at Conrad Park in Deland Florida. The winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the regionals of the national tournament. There are a couple of catches to this matchup: If JU beats FGCU, they will go to the regionals and FGCU will be finished for the year. On the other hand, if FGCU wins, they will have to play one more game against JU to stay alive and go for the regionals.
A little recap of the tournament overall:
1. No. 2 seed Stetson was the host of the tournament after winning the previous tournament and season crown.
2. No. 2 seed Stetson was the first team eliminated from the tournament.
3. JU did not lose any games throughout the whole tournament (until the end).
4. The teams eliminated in order are as noted: 1. Stetson 2. UNF 3. Lipscomb and 4. Kennesaw State.
Before the final matchup(s), FGCU and JU played each other previously in the opening conference games of the season. JU won the conference series 2-1. FGCU would win the first game 4-0, but would lose the second game 5-10 and the third game 2-5 in 11 innings. The third game was the most heated game in the series. Words were exchanged and a fight broke out. Five players total were ejected from the game.
The first game of the championship went underway. For the pitcher's duel, JU sent sophomore Mike Cassala (0-4, 5.31 ERA) to start the game while FGCU countered with junior Peyton Gray (3-3, 4.85 ERA).
Through the first two innings, it was quiet for both teams until FGCU struck first. At the top of the third, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Alex Brait started with a leadoff single. After a strikeout by junior Eli Lovell, sophomore Jake Smith would hit a single before junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member, Julio Gonzalez, hit a single to right to drive in Brait for the first run of the championship game.
JU would strike back, however. Starting with a single from redshirt sophomore Reagan Wright, a sacrifice bunt from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Ruben Someillan and a strikeout to sophomore Dakota Julylia, senior A-SUN First Team All-Conference and A-SUN All-Acadmic Team member Nathan Koslowski drove in Wright for JU's first run of the game.
By the bottom of the fourth, Gray was struggling. After getting sophomore A-SUN All-Acadmic Team member Angel Camacho to pop out and junior Sam Armstrong to strikeout, sophomore A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Evan Fernandez, hit a solo home run to give JU a 2-1 lead.
By the top of sixth inning, FGCU fought back. Redshirt Senior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera, lead off with a solo home run to left to tie the game 2-2. It did not stop there though. A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year Richie Garcia hit a single to left. After a sacrifice bunt from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers, back-to-back RBI doubles were struck by Brait and junior Matt Reardon for runs three and four of the game.
From the top of the seventh, Gray was able to relax more and finish through the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, redshirt junior Kenton Hering (7-3, 2.04 ERA) took over in relief. Hering made his fourth postseason appearance in the tournament so far. With Hering on the mound, Brait was switched with junior Spencer Levine as catcher. With the switch, Hering had no problem with the final two innings and closed the door on the Dolphins for the 4-2 win.
Grey was credited with his fourth win after throwing seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits, walked three batters and struck out five. Hering was credited with his sixth save of the year after throwing two scoreless innings of relief and striking out three batters.
Almost everyone of FGCU's batters had at least one hit.
Gonzalez was 3-for-5 with two singles, a double and an RBI.
Reardon was 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Brait was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, an RBI and a run scored.
Smith, Coffers, Garcia and Rivera had one hit each.
Morey and Lovell were the only batters that were hitless. Morey was 0-for-4 with a walk while Lovell was 0-for-3 with a walk.
Rivera was 1-for-4 with a walk and a home run. The home run hit by him was his 17th home run of the year and the 43rd home run of his collegiate career. He holds the record for most home runs overall for FGCU and the A-SUN.
During the tournament, a few of FGCU's players, including Smith and Reardon were battling through injuries. With the win, FGCU and JU had one more game to play for all the marbles.
JU would send sophomore Chris Gau (2-4, 3.41 ERA) to the mound while FGCU tried something different and had senior Sterling Koerner to start. Koerner (2-3, 5.47 ERA) was mainly used as the closer for FGCU. Koerner leads the team and the conference with 12 saves, so this was his first start for FGCU this season.
A little recap of the tournament overall:
1. No. 2 seed Stetson was the host of the tournament after winning the previous tournament and season crown.
2. No. 2 seed Stetson was the first team eliminated from the tournament.
3. JU did not lose any games throughout the whole tournament (until the end).
4. The teams eliminated in order are as noted: 1. Stetson 2. UNF 3. Lipscomb and 4. Kennesaw State.
Before the final matchup(s), FGCU and JU played each other previously in the opening conference games of the season. JU won the conference series 2-1. FGCU would win the first game 4-0, but would lose the second game 5-10 and the third game 2-5 in 11 innings. The third game was the most heated game in the series. Words were exchanged and a fight broke out. Five players total were ejected from the game.
The first game of the championship went underway. For the pitcher's duel, JU sent sophomore Mike Cassala (0-4, 5.31 ERA) to start the game while FGCU countered with junior Peyton Gray (3-3, 4.85 ERA).
Through the first two innings, it was quiet for both teams until FGCU struck first. At the top of the third, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Alex Brait started with a leadoff single. After a strikeout by junior Eli Lovell, sophomore Jake Smith would hit a single before junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member, Julio Gonzalez, hit a single to right to drive in Brait for the first run of the championship game.
JU would strike back, however. Starting with a single from redshirt sophomore Reagan Wright, a sacrifice bunt from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Ruben Someillan and a strikeout to sophomore Dakota Julylia, senior A-SUN First Team All-Conference and A-SUN All-Acadmic Team member Nathan Koslowski drove in Wright for JU's first run of the game.
By the bottom of the fourth, Gray was struggling. After getting sophomore A-SUN All-Acadmic Team member Angel Camacho to pop out and junior Sam Armstrong to strikeout, sophomore A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Evan Fernandez, hit a solo home run to give JU a 2-1 lead.
By the top of sixth inning, FGCU fought back. Redshirt Senior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera, lead off with a solo home run to left to tie the game 2-2. It did not stop there though. A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year Richie Garcia hit a single to left. After a sacrifice bunt from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers, back-to-back RBI doubles were struck by Brait and junior Matt Reardon for runs three and four of the game.
From the top of the seventh, Gray was able to relax more and finish through the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, redshirt junior Kenton Hering (7-3, 2.04 ERA) took over in relief. Hering made his fourth postseason appearance in the tournament so far. With Hering on the mound, Brait was switched with junior Spencer Levine as catcher. With the switch, Hering had no problem with the final two innings and closed the door on the Dolphins for the 4-2 win.
Grey was credited with his fourth win after throwing seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits, walked three batters and struck out five. Hering was credited with his sixth save of the year after throwing two scoreless innings of relief and striking out three batters.
Almost everyone of FGCU's batters had at least one hit.
Gonzalez was 3-for-5 with two singles, a double and an RBI.
Reardon was 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Brait was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, an RBI and a run scored.
Smith, Coffers, Garcia and Rivera had one hit each.
Morey and Lovell were the only batters that were hitless. Morey was 0-for-4 with a walk while Lovell was 0-for-3 with a walk.
Rivera was 1-for-4 with a walk and a home run. The home run hit by him was his 17th home run of the year and the 43rd home run of his collegiate career. He holds the record for most home runs overall for FGCU and the A-SUN.
During the tournament, a few of FGCU's players, including Smith and Reardon were battling through injuries. With the win, FGCU and JU had one more game to play for all the marbles.
JU would send sophomore Chris Gau (2-4, 3.41 ERA) to the mound while FGCU tried something different and had senior Sterling Koerner to start. Koerner (2-3, 5.47 ERA) was mainly used as the closer for FGCU. Koerner leads the team and the conference with 12 saves, so this was his first start for FGCU this season.
Now I was really questionable and weary with the choice that head coach Dave Tollett made with Koerner for several reasons:
1. Koerner is a closer, not a starter.
2. Koerner has had some rough games against JU during the season where he blew two saves.
3. When Koerner enters into the game that is not a save situation, there are a few red flags waved that are, to me, questionable. So I was nervous to see what would happen.
In the bottom of the first, JU struck first. After a single from Koslowski, a sacrifice bunt from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Scott Dubrule and another single from Camacho, Armstrong would hit a sac fly and bring in Koslowski for the first run Cassala flew out to end the top half of the inning.
At the top of the second, FGCU would get their first run on the board. Reardon, despite battling an injury, lead off with a single. After Brait walked, Lovell would make a sac bunt and move Reardon and Brait. Smith would hit a sac fly and drive a hobbling Reardon home for the first run.
Koerner was still struggling. In the fourth inning, Koerner gave up a single to Fernandez. After a sacrifice bunt from redshirt junior Chris Lehane, Someillan would hit an RBI single and drive in Fernandez to make it 2-1 JU. FGCU's bat were very quiet throughout parts of the game.
In the bottom of the seventh, Koerner gave up a single to Someillan. After a sac bunt from Julylia, Tollett pulled Koerner out of the game and decided to put redshirt sophomore Josh Dye (8-5, 3.32 ERA) to finish the inning. Although it effected Koerner's ERA, Dye would get Koslowski to fly out before giving up an RBI single to Dubrule before striking out Camacho. Camacho would reach first on a wild pitch, but Dye would get out of the inning and get Armstrong to flyout to end the seventh.
It looked like FGCU's chances of getting their first conference tournament championship and automatic bid to the regionals of the national tournament were slipping away fast, but at the top of the ninth, the Eagles fought back. Senior A-SUN All-Acadmic Team member Corey Fehribach would leadoff as a pinch hitter for Brait and start with a walk. Lovell would then follow with a single to left. After that, head coach Chris Hayes would pull Gau out and send junior Spencer Stockton (5-2, 2.42 ERA) to pitch.
In the bottom of the first, JU struck first. After a single from Koslowski, a sacrifice bunt from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Scott Dubrule and another single from Camacho, Armstrong would hit a sac fly and bring in Koslowski for the first run Cassala flew out to end the top half of the inning.
At the top of the second, FGCU would get their first run on the board. Reardon, despite battling an injury, lead off with a single. After Brait walked, Lovell would make a sac bunt and move Reardon and Brait. Smith would hit a sac fly and drive a hobbling Reardon home for the first run.
Koerner was still struggling. In the fourth inning, Koerner gave up a single to Fernandez. After a sacrifice bunt from redshirt junior Chris Lehane, Someillan would hit an RBI single and drive in Fernandez to make it 2-1 JU. FGCU's bat were very quiet throughout parts of the game.
In the bottom of the seventh, Koerner gave up a single to Someillan. After a sac bunt from Julylia, Tollett pulled Koerner out of the game and decided to put redshirt sophomore Josh Dye (8-5, 3.32 ERA) to finish the inning. Although it effected Koerner's ERA, Dye would get Koslowski to fly out before giving up an RBI single to Dubrule before striking out Camacho. Camacho would reach first on a wild pitch, but Dye would get out of the inning and get Armstrong to flyout to end the seventh.
It looked like FGCU's chances of getting their first conference tournament championship and automatic bid to the regionals of the national tournament were slipping away fast, but at the top of the ninth, the Eagles fought back. Senior A-SUN All-Acadmic Team member Corey Fehribach would leadoff as a pinch hitter for Brait and start with a walk. Lovell would then follow with a single to left. After that, head coach Chris Hayes would pull Gau out and send junior Spencer Stockton (5-2, 2.42 ERA) to pitch.
Before Stockton could pitch, Tollett sent freshman Tyler Yeager to pinch run for Lovell. Smith would lay down a sac bunt to move Fehribach and Yeager into scoring position for Gonzalez. Scared to look right away, Gonzalez saved FGCU and hit a game-tying two-RBI single up the middle to make it 3-3.
In the bottom of the ninth, FGCU went to the bullpen again and had redshirt junior Parker Hamilton (1-0, 3.54 ERA) pitch in the ninth inning. With Hamilton in the game, Tollett made a few more defensive changes. Levine would come in as the catcher and freshman Cameron Krzeminski would come in at left field. Hamilton had no trouble and swept through the inning with ease.
The game was now going to extra innings. JU would make another pitching change and send freshman Tyler Santana (4-1, 2.79 ERA) to pitch. After Garcia lined out to start the 10th inning, Coffers and Reardon hit back-to-back singles. After a Levine walk, Santana would throw a wild pitch and Coffers would score the hopefully winning run for FGCU before Krzeminski struck out and Smith flew out to end the inning.
Tollett would make one last pitching change for a save situation. He sent senior Garrett Anderson (7-1, 3.43 ERA) to pitch and get the save. Anderson would give up a leadoff single to Dubrule, but it had very little effect on Anderson. Camacho would groundout into a double play. With two outs, Hayes would have sophomore Connor Stephens pinch hit and face Anderson. Stephens grounded out to second and FGCU would claim their first ever A-SUN Conference Championship and secure an automatic bid in the regionals.
Koerner earned a no decision after he threw 6.1 innings and gave up three runs on six hits and walked one batter and struck out one. Hamilton was credited with his second win of the year after one scoreless inning. Anderson was credited with his third save of the year.
four players from FGCU had two hits each (Morey, Garcia, Coffers and Reardon).
At the award ceremony, the A-SUN All-Tournament team was announced at the end.
Gau, Dubrule, Cassala and Lehane represented runner-up JU.
Junior Kutter Crawford, Rivera, Hering and Coffers represented FGCU. Coffers was also named A-SUN All-Tournament Team MVP.
Juniors First Team A-SUN All-Conference members, Austin Upshaw and A-SUN Co-Defensive Players of the Year, Grant Williams of Kennesaw and Michael Gigliotti of Lipscomb, were also recognized on A-SUN All-Tournament team, but they were not in attendance due to being eliminated earlier from the tournament.
FGCU is going to the regionals of the national tournament for the first time in program history and will represent the A-SUN Conference. On Monday, the NCAA will provide a selection show for fans to watch on ESPN2 at noon. During the selection show, it won't be just the conference winners that are being selected. Teams that have an at-large bid will also be selected in the tournament. It is unknown who FGCU will play in the tournament and where their regional games are going to be. It's a random selection, so they may play Bethune-Cookman, Florida or Florida State again or they may play a team that they have never played against like UIC or BYU. Whoever FGCU plays, they will give it all they got.
In the bottom of the ninth, FGCU went to the bullpen again and had redshirt junior Parker Hamilton (1-0, 3.54 ERA) pitch in the ninth inning. With Hamilton in the game, Tollett made a few more defensive changes. Levine would come in as the catcher and freshman Cameron Krzeminski would come in at left field. Hamilton had no trouble and swept through the inning with ease.
The game was now going to extra innings. JU would make another pitching change and send freshman Tyler Santana (4-1, 2.79 ERA) to pitch. After Garcia lined out to start the 10th inning, Coffers and Reardon hit back-to-back singles. After a Levine walk, Santana would throw a wild pitch and Coffers would score the hopefully winning run for FGCU before Krzeminski struck out and Smith flew out to end the inning.
Tollett would make one last pitching change for a save situation. He sent senior Garrett Anderson (7-1, 3.43 ERA) to pitch and get the save. Anderson would give up a leadoff single to Dubrule, but it had very little effect on Anderson. Camacho would groundout into a double play. With two outs, Hayes would have sophomore Connor Stephens pinch hit and face Anderson. Stephens grounded out to second and FGCU would claim their first ever A-SUN Conference Championship and secure an automatic bid in the regionals.
Koerner earned a no decision after he threw 6.1 innings and gave up three runs on six hits and walked one batter and struck out one. Hamilton was credited with his second win of the year after one scoreless inning. Anderson was credited with his third save of the year.
four players from FGCU had two hits each (Morey, Garcia, Coffers and Reardon).
At the award ceremony, the A-SUN All-Tournament team was announced at the end.
Gau, Dubrule, Cassala and Lehane represented runner-up JU.
Junior Kutter Crawford, Rivera, Hering and Coffers represented FGCU. Coffers was also named A-SUN All-Tournament Team MVP.
Juniors First Team A-SUN All-Conference members, Austin Upshaw and A-SUN Co-Defensive Players of the Year, Grant Williams of Kennesaw and Michael Gigliotti of Lipscomb, were also recognized on A-SUN All-Tournament team, but they were not in attendance due to being eliminated earlier from the tournament.
FGCU is going to the regionals of the national tournament for the first time in program history and will represent the A-SUN Conference. On Monday, the NCAA will provide a selection show for fans to watch on ESPN2 at noon. During the selection show, it won't be just the conference winners that are being selected. Teams that have an at-large bid will also be selected in the tournament. It is unknown who FGCU will play in the tournament and where their regional games are going to be. It's a random selection, so they may play Bethune-Cookman, Florida or Florida State again or they may play a team that they have never played against like UIC or BYU. Whoever FGCU plays, they will give it all they got.
FGCU Baseball: Conference Tournament Update 3
With three teams remaining, the A-SUN Conference Baseball Tournament is nearing to the end. No. 1 JU, No.4 FGCU and No. 5 Kennesaw State are the three teams remaining in the tournament. JU is 3-0 going the tournament while FGCU and KSU are 2-1 each.
Three teams have already been eliminated from the tournament: No. 4 UNF, No. 2 Stetson and No. 6 Lipscomb. Stetson was the host of the tournament and were the defending champions, but after losses to KSU (5-10) and Lipscomb (6-8), they were the first team eliminated from the tournament.
After losing 4-0 to FGCU in the first round, UNF played their crosstown conference rival, JU, and lost 5-8. UNF was the second team eliminated from the tournament.
For Lipscomb, they lost to JU (2-8) in the first round and were sent to the losers bracket. After beating Stetson and eliminating the host team, they played FGCU and lost 3-1. Lipscomb would be the third team eliminated from the tournament.
FGCU started off hot in the tournament beating UNF 4-0, but then fell apart after losing 6-3 to KSU and were sent to the losers bracket. Hoping to stay alive, FGCU beat Lipscomb 3-1 and awaited a matchup between KSU and JU. JU would beat KSU 8-4 and send the Owls to the losers bracket. This was the opportunity that FGCU was waiting for. With the loss, KSU played FGCU in the losers bracket. The winner would play JU in the championship game. This was the last chance for both teams.
KSU would send redshirt freshman Nathan Dupree (1-5, 11.08 ERA) to mound. Hoping to counter the matchup, FGCU would send redshirt junior Mario Leon (4-2, 4.29 ERA) to do the job.
At the top of first inning, Leon was off to a shaky start after surrendering a leadoff single to junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and co-A-SUN Defensive Player of the year Grant Williams, but was able to strikeout senior Corey Greeson. After giving up another single to junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Austin Upshaw, Leon was able to strikeout redshirt junior Forrest Bramlett, but KSU would bring in the first run after junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference and A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Taylor Allum, hit a single to right. Leon was able to get the final out by striking out A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Garrett Hodges.
In the bottom of the first, FGCU struck back. After Dupree delivered back-to-back walks to junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez and redshirt junior Gage Morey, A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera flew out and moved Gonzalez to third. Morey would get caught stealing second for the second out. With hope for FGCU's first run seeming to dwindle away, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year, Richie Garcia would walk to first before fellow teammate and A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers would drive in Gonzalez for FGCU's first run on a single before junior Matt Reardon fouled out.
With the score 1-1, Leon was on a strikeout tear by each inning. At the top of the second inning, he struck out two batters and one in the top of the third. He had six strikeouts in three innings.
In the bottom of the third, FGCU's bats struck again. After a leadoff single from Morey and a walk to Rivera, both teams advanced to second and third base on a passed ball. Two batters later, Coffers gave FGCU the lead with a single to right, driving in Morey for the second run. After Reardon walked to load the bases, that was a signal of the end for Dupree and he was pulled from the game after throwing 2.1 innings and walking six batters.
After losing 4-0 to FGCU in the first round, UNF played their crosstown conference rival, JU, and lost 5-8. UNF was the second team eliminated from the tournament.
For Lipscomb, they lost to JU (2-8) in the first round and were sent to the losers bracket. After beating Stetson and eliminating the host team, they played FGCU and lost 3-1. Lipscomb would be the third team eliminated from the tournament.
FGCU started off hot in the tournament beating UNF 4-0, but then fell apart after losing 6-3 to KSU and were sent to the losers bracket. Hoping to stay alive, FGCU beat Lipscomb 3-1 and awaited a matchup between KSU and JU. JU would beat KSU 8-4 and send the Owls to the losers bracket. This was the opportunity that FGCU was waiting for. With the loss, KSU played FGCU in the losers bracket. The winner would play JU in the championship game. This was the last chance for both teams.
KSU would send redshirt freshman Nathan Dupree (1-5, 11.08 ERA) to mound. Hoping to counter the matchup, FGCU would send redshirt junior Mario Leon (4-2, 4.29 ERA) to do the job.
At the top of first inning, Leon was off to a shaky start after surrendering a leadoff single to junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and co-A-SUN Defensive Player of the year Grant Williams, but was able to strikeout senior Corey Greeson. After giving up another single to junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Austin Upshaw, Leon was able to strikeout redshirt junior Forrest Bramlett, but KSU would bring in the first run after junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference and A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Taylor Allum, hit a single to right. Leon was able to get the final out by striking out A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Garrett Hodges.
In the bottom of the first, FGCU struck back. After Dupree delivered back-to-back walks to junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez and redshirt junior Gage Morey, A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera flew out and moved Gonzalez to third. Morey would get caught stealing second for the second out. With hope for FGCU's first run seeming to dwindle away, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year, Richie Garcia would walk to first before fellow teammate and A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers would drive in Gonzalez for FGCU's first run on a single before junior Matt Reardon fouled out.
With the score 1-1, Leon was on a strikeout tear by each inning. At the top of the second inning, he struck out two batters and one in the top of the third. He had six strikeouts in three innings.
In the bottom of the third, FGCU's bats struck again. After a leadoff single from Morey and a walk to Rivera, both teams advanced to second and third base on a passed ball. Two batters later, Coffers gave FGCU the lead with a single to right, driving in Morey for the second run. After Reardon walked to load the bases, that was a signal of the end for Dupree and he was pulled from the game after throwing 2.1 innings and walking six batters.
Kennesaw head coach Mike Sansing would make a call to the bullpen and bring in redshirt senior Brock Turner to pitch. With the bases loaded, junior Eli Lovell would get hit by a pitch and bring in Rivera for FGCU's third run of the game.
Leon would continue his strikeout tear with one at the top of the fourth inning and one in the fifth.
In the bottom of the fourth, FGCU, already ahead 3-0, struck again. Gonzalez would start with a leadoff walk. After a fielder's choice by Morey, Rivera would hit a single and move Morey to third. The bases were once again loaded after Garcia walked and then Coffers would hit a sacrifice fly and bring in Morey for the fourth run of the game.
At the top of the sixth, Leon struggled again. After getting Williams to ground out and Greeson to strikeout again, Upshaw would hit a two out single and Bramlett would hit an RBI double for KSU's second run of the game. Leon was able to get Allum to strikeout to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, FGCU struck again. Morey started the bottom half of the inning with a leadoff double. After an intentional walk to Rivera, Garcia would load the bases again with a bunt single. After Coffers struck out, Reardon would bring in Morey for FGCU's fifth run on another sacrifice fly before Lovell struck out.
Leon really struggled in the seventh. After Hodges flew out, Leon gave up back-to-back-back singles with the third one driving in KSU's third run of the game. After getting Williams to fly out and giving up a single to load the bases, Upshaw would tie the game to 5-5 with bases loaded two-RBI single. Head coach Dave Tollett would pull Leon and bring in redshirt junior Kenton Hering (6-3, 2.21 ERA) to finish the inning. After Upshaw stole second, Hering got Bramlett to strike out and end the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, KSU would have senior Turner Watkins come in to pitch while FGCU had an opportunity to take the lead in the inning. Levine would strike out and Smith fouled out, but Gonzalez started with a two out single. Sansing would pull Watkins out and send senior Eric Stahl to pitch. After Stahl walked Morey, Gonzalez and Morey advance to second and third for Rivera. Having knowing about Rivera's power, Stahl would intentionally walk him before having Garcia fly out to end the inning.
Soon, Hering was seemingly in a jam in the top of the eighth. After striking out Allum, Hering gave up a double to Hodges and walked redshirt junior Ladonis Bryant. But it meant nothing to Hering as he struck out the final two batters to end the top of the inning.
The bottom of the eighth inning was the most surprising and kind of controversial. After Coffers and Reardon grounded out, Lovell was up to the plate. With a full count, Stahl pitched to what looked like a strikeout and Lovell thought the same thing, but the umpire called the last pitch ball four and Lovell walked to first base.
Leon would continue his strikeout tear with one at the top of the fourth inning and one in the fifth.
In the bottom of the fourth, FGCU, already ahead 3-0, struck again. Gonzalez would start with a leadoff walk. After a fielder's choice by Morey, Rivera would hit a single and move Morey to third. The bases were once again loaded after Garcia walked and then Coffers would hit a sacrifice fly and bring in Morey for the fourth run of the game.
At the top of the sixth, Leon struggled again. After getting Williams to ground out and Greeson to strikeout again, Upshaw would hit a two out single and Bramlett would hit an RBI double for KSU's second run of the game. Leon was able to get Allum to strikeout to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, FGCU struck again. Morey started the bottom half of the inning with a leadoff double. After an intentional walk to Rivera, Garcia would load the bases again with a bunt single. After Coffers struck out, Reardon would bring in Morey for FGCU's fifth run on another sacrifice fly before Lovell struck out.
Leon really struggled in the seventh. After Hodges flew out, Leon gave up back-to-back-back singles with the third one driving in KSU's third run of the game. After getting Williams to fly out and giving up a single to load the bases, Upshaw would tie the game to 5-5 with bases loaded two-RBI single. Head coach Dave Tollett would pull Leon and bring in redshirt junior Kenton Hering (6-3, 2.21 ERA) to finish the inning. After Upshaw stole second, Hering got Bramlett to strike out and end the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, KSU would have senior Turner Watkins come in to pitch while FGCU had an opportunity to take the lead in the inning. Levine would strike out and Smith fouled out, but Gonzalez started with a two out single. Sansing would pull Watkins out and send senior Eric Stahl to pitch. After Stahl walked Morey, Gonzalez and Morey advance to second and third for Rivera. Having knowing about Rivera's power, Stahl would intentionally walk him before having Garcia fly out to end the inning.
Soon, Hering was seemingly in a jam in the top of the eighth. After striking out Allum, Hering gave up a double to Hodges and walked redshirt junior Ladonis Bryant. But it meant nothing to Hering as he struck out the final two batters to end the top of the inning.
The bottom of the eighth inning was the most surprising and kind of controversial. After Coffers and Reardon grounded out, Lovell was up to the plate. With a full count, Stahl pitched to what looked like a strikeout and Lovell thought the same thing, but the umpire called the last pitch ball four and Lovell walked to first base.
The whole crowd and both teams were shocked, and looking from an unbiased view that should have been a strikeout to end the inning. Sansing, with so much rage, tried to argue the call and called the umpire out, but the umpire gave him a warning, which could've lead to a possible ejection if he was warned again. Even Lovell thought he struck out. Stahl would give up back-to-back singles to Levine and Smith before Gonzalez grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
The top of the ninth became intense. Hering would strike out Williams, but Williams would reach second after a wild pitch and a Levine throwing error to first. Greeson would groundout for the first out and move Williams to third. Upshaw would pop out to Gonzalez for the second out leaving it up to Bramlett to try to bring the game-winning run. Bramlett, however, would not get the job done and Hering with so much excitement, struck out Bramlett and shout out loud "Let's go" to end the inning.
It was now down to the bottom of the ninth for FGCU. Morey started the inning with a leadoff walk. Hoping not to be walked again, Rivera lined a single to right. After a Garcia sacrifice bunt, Coffers was intentionally walked to load the bases for Reardon. Reardon only needed to bring in one run to win the game, so he could hit a sac fly, a bases loaded single or try and draw a walk to do so. With a 2-2 count, Reardon hit a fly ball to left with two possible outcomes: a sac fly or a hit. Greeson missed the ball and Morey would score on Reardon's single. FGCU would win the game 6-5 and will face JU in the championship game.
"That was the clutch hit we had been looking for all night, and Matt has been playing with nothing but heart and guts right now," said Tollett. "We needed that. We're on fumes right now, but there's a little gas left in that tank. All of our pitchers did a great job today. Garrett (Anderson) turned in a heck of a performance in game one, and Mario (Leon) and Kenton (Hering) backed him up in game two. Kenton was really special. I don't know the last time I saw a performance like that in the backend. It gets us to 40 wins, and I think we can talk about a real chance at an at-large berth. We're playing for the automatic bid first and foremost, though."
Leon, despite a tremendous game he played, would receive a no-decision after throwing 6.2 innings, giving up five runs on 10 hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts. Hering would be credited with his seventh win of the year after throwing 2.1 scoreless innings while giving up one hit, walking one batter and striking out six.
Stahl would be credited with the loss after 1.2 innings and giving up one run on four hits and walking four batters.
Four players from FGCU had multi-hit games.
Morey was 2-for-3 with a single, a double, three walks and four runs scored, Rivera was 2-for-3 with two singles, a run scored and three walks (two intentional), Coffers was 2-for-3 with two singles, three RBIs and a walk and Levine was 2-for-5 with two singles.
FGCU was walked 14 times throughout the whole game (three to Rivera and Morey, two to Gonzalez and Garcia and one to Coffers, Reardon, Lovell and Smith).
As a result of the loss, KSU was the fourth team eliminated from the tournament. FGCU will now play JU in the championship game on Saturday at 1 pm. If JU wins, they will win the conference tournament and an automatic bid in one of the regionals of the national tournament. If FGCU wins, they will have to play JU a second time for the championship since JU did not lose a game throughout the whole tournament.
Neither FGCU nor JU have ever been to the regionals of the tournament, so this will be their golden opportunities. Also, if FGCU lost, they might have a possible at-large bid for the tournament from their RPI ranking points. They are currently No. 41 in the NCAA's RPI rankings poll while JU is No. 56, so anything is possible to happen.
One team will represent the A-SUN in the tournament. Who will it be? The answer relies on the final championship game(s).
The top of the ninth became intense. Hering would strike out Williams, but Williams would reach second after a wild pitch and a Levine throwing error to first. Greeson would groundout for the first out and move Williams to third. Upshaw would pop out to Gonzalez for the second out leaving it up to Bramlett to try to bring the game-winning run. Bramlett, however, would not get the job done and Hering with so much excitement, struck out Bramlett and shout out loud "Let's go" to end the inning.
It was now down to the bottom of the ninth for FGCU. Morey started the inning with a leadoff walk. Hoping not to be walked again, Rivera lined a single to right. After a Garcia sacrifice bunt, Coffers was intentionally walked to load the bases for Reardon. Reardon only needed to bring in one run to win the game, so he could hit a sac fly, a bases loaded single or try and draw a walk to do so. With a 2-2 count, Reardon hit a fly ball to left with two possible outcomes: a sac fly or a hit. Greeson missed the ball and Morey would score on Reardon's single. FGCU would win the game 6-5 and will face JU in the championship game.
"That was the clutch hit we had been looking for all night, and Matt has been playing with nothing but heart and guts right now," said Tollett. "We needed that. We're on fumes right now, but there's a little gas left in that tank. All of our pitchers did a great job today. Garrett (Anderson) turned in a heck of a performance in game one, and Mario (Leon) and Kenton (Hering) backed him up in game two. Kenton was really special. I don't know the last time I saw a performance like that in the backend. It gets us to 40 wins, and I think we can talk about a real chance at an at-large berth. We're playing for the automatic bid first and foremost, though."
Leon, despite a tremendous game he played, would receive a no-decision after throwing 6.2 innings, giving up five runs on 10 hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts. Hering would be credited with his seventh win of the year after throwing 2.1 scoreless innings while giving up one hit, walking one batter and striking out six.
Stahl would be credited with the loss after 1.2 innings and giving up one run on four hits and walking four batters.
Four players from FGCU had multi-hit games.
Morey was 2-for-3 with a single, a double, three walks and four runs scored, Rivera was 2-for-3 with two singles, a run scored and three walks (two intentional), Coffers was 2-for-3 with two singles, three RBIs and a walk and Levine was 2-for-5 with two singles.
FGCU was walked 14 times throughout the whole game (three to Rivera and Morey, two to Gonzalez and Garcia and one to Coffers, Reardon, Lovell and Smith).
As a result of the loss, KSU was the fourth team eliminated from the tournament. FGCU will now play JU in the championship game on Saturday at 1 pm. If JU wins, they will win the conference tournament and an automatic bid in one of the regionals of the national tournament. If FGCU wins, they will have to play JU a second time for the championship since JU did not lose a game throughout the whole tournament.
Neither FGCU nor JU have ever been to the regionals of the tournament, so this will be their golden opportunities. Also, if FGCU lost, they might have a possible at-large bid for the tournament from their RPI ranking points. They are currently No. 41 in the NCAA's RPI rankings poll while JU is No. 56, so anything is possible to happen.
One team will represent the A-SUN in the tournament. Who will it be? The answer relies on the final championship game(s).
FGCU Baseball: Conference Tournament Update 2
Day two of the A-SUN Conference Baseball Tournament has gone in a few shocks. On day one, despite the 6 hour rain delay at night, No. 1 Jacksonville played No. 6 Lipscomb and won 8-2 to open the tournament. FGCU played UNF after the Jacksonville/Lipscomb game. Initially, the game was scheduled at 3 pm, but was pushed to 10 pm due to a heavy rain delay during the JU/Lipscomb game. The FGCU/UNF game went underway and FGCU would come out on top with a 4-0 win. Earlier in the tournament, No. 2 Stetson played No. 5 Kennesaw in an early morning game. KSU would win 10-5 against Stetson, sending the Hatters to the losers bracket.
Day two went underway and in the losers bracket, Lipscomb played Stetson in a crucial elimination game. Lipscomb would eventually beat Stetson 8-6 and remain safe in tournament while Stetson was the first team eliminated from the tournament.
With Stetson's second loss, there are two things that happened to them: 1. They were eliminated from the tournament, in which they were hosting. 2. They will not be defending their championship, so there will be a new A-SUN Conference champion.
"It just came down to the fact that the two teams we played today were better than us," head coach Steve Trimper said. "They executed more baseball plays than we did. That doesn't take away from how good we are or how good the other teams is the A-SUN Conference are, it is a hard-fought conference season and a hard-fought conference tournament with good teams."
“We thought runs would be at a premium today with those two guys throwing on the hill, but if you had told me it would be an 8-6 game, I would not have believed you,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand. “Overall I was pumped to see our guys to battle back like they did after they went down. They knew if we lost, our season was over so I think that sense of urgency kicked in and carried through. What a great team win.”
UNF would also face JU in a crucial game to keep them alive, but they would fall to their crosstown conference rival 8-5. UNF would be the second team eliminated from the tournament.
"This group, the entire season, has not panicked," Head Coach Chris Hayes said.
Four teams remained: No. 1 Jacksonville, No. 4 FGCU, No. 5 Kennesaw and No. 6 Lipscomb.
Day two went underway and in the losers bracket, Lipscomb played Stetson in a crucial elimination game. Lipscomb would eventually beat Stetson 8-6 and remain safe in tournament while Stetson was the first team eliminated from the tournament.
With Stetson's second loss, there are two things that happened to them: 1. They were eliminated from the tournament, in which they were hosting. 2. They will not be defending their championship, so there will be a new A-SUN Conference champion.
"It just came down to the fact that the two teams we played today were better than us," head coach Steve Trimper said. "They executed more baseball plays than we did. That doesn't take away from how good we are or how good the other teams is the A-SUN Conference are, it is a hard-fought conference season and a hard-fought conference tournament with good teams."
“We thought runs would be at a premium today with those two guys throwing on the hill, but if you had told me it would be an 8-6 game, I would not have believed you,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand. “Overall I was pumped to see our guys to battle back like they did after they went down. They knew if we lost, our season was over so I think that sense of urgency kicked in and carried through. What a great team win.”
UNF would also face JU in a crucial game to keep them alive, but they would fall to their crosstown conference rival 8-5. UNF would be the second team eliminated from the tournament.
"This group, the entire season, has not panicked," Head Coach Chris Hayes said.
Four teams remained: No. 1 Jacksonville, No. 4 FGCU, No. 5 Kennesaw and No. 6 Lipscomb.
FGCU played Kennesaw later that night. In the season, FGCU swept Kennesaw (Gm 1.8-1, Gm 2. 15-6 and Gm 3. 13-3).
The Eagles held their own going into the seventh inning, but fell 6-3 in the end despite a late rally attempt and would drop into the losers back to face Lipscomb again.
"We've got to do it the hard way now," said FGCU head coach Dave Tollett. "It's not necessarily the situation we wanted to be in after tonight, but we still believe in ourselves and know we can rattle off some wins. Give credit to Kennesaw State. They responded from last weekend and got a good outing on the mound with some big hits at the plate. We'll put this one behind and get back out there tomorrow to try and keep our hopes alive."
Redshirt sophomore Josh Dye was credited with the loss.
In the season, FGCU swept Lipscomb on senior day (Gm 1. 4-3 (11), Gm 2. 9-6 and Gm 3. 14-7). The winner of the game would face Kennesaw in the next round and the loser would the third team eliminated.
With both teams on the peak of being eliminated, FGCU would send senior Garrett Anderson to the mound while Lipscomb sent junior Dayton Tripp to counter.
In the first inning, Lipscomb struck first. After Anderson walked junior A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Michael Gigliotti, and gave up a single to junior A-SUN All-Academic Team member Lee Solomon, Lipscomb scored the first run on sacrifice fly from sophomore A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Zeke Dodson.
FGCU would strike back. After junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez and redshirt junior Gage Morey flew out, redshirt senior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera, hit a two out single to short and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With Rivera on second, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year, Richie Garcia, would hit a single and drive in Rivera to tie the game.
The bats for both teams were very quiet and it was a pitcher's duel between Anderson and Tripp until the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, FGCU's bats would wake up a bit. After Morey grounded out and Rivera flew out, Garcia would start the rally with a walk. After fellow teammate and All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers, was hit by a pitch, senior A-SUN All-Academic Team member Corey Fehribach hit a single to left and drove in Garcia for the second run of the game.
Anderson would continue to pitch well until head coach Dave Tollett decide to pull him. Anderson left the mound with a standing ovation and redshirt junior Kenton Hering would come in to relive Anderson and finish the top of the eighth.
With the score 2-1, in favor of FGCU, the Eagles were not quite finished and hoped to add at least one more run for insurance. Coffers would lead off with a walk. Lipscomb, however pulled junior Nicko Ortega, after playing a third of an inning and send Denton Norman to finish the inning. Coffers would steal second and advance to third on a throwing error before scoring the insurance on a Fehribach fielder's choice before Gonzalez flew out to end the inning.
Hering struck out sophomore Cade Sorrells before giving up a walk to Dodson. After striking out senior A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Hunter Hanks, Hering would get junior Blake Thomas to fly out and end the game.
Anderson would earn his seventh win after throwing 7.1 innings. He gave up one run on four hits while walking two batters and striking out six. Hering earned his sixth save after he threw 1.2 innings with one walk and two strikeouts.
Fehribach was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
Seven of FGCU's nine batters had one hit each.
With the loss, Lipscomb would be the third team eliminated from the tournament and FGCU will face Kennesaw in a rematch. Earlier, KSU lost to JU 8-4 in the winners bracket and ended up in the losers bracket.
With three teams remaining, Jacksonville awaits the winner between FGCU and KSU for the championship game. If either FGCU or KSU beat Jacksonville in the championship game, they would play JU a second time since JU did not lose throughout the whole tournament.
From the matchup with FGCU and KSU again, FGCU will send redshirt junior Mario Leon (4-2, 4.32 ERA) to face redshirt freshman Nathan Dupree (1-5, 10.87 ERA).
The Eagles held their own going into the seventh inning, but fell 6-3 in the end despite a late rally attempt and would drop into the losers back to face Lipscomb again.
"We've got to do it the hard way now," said FGCU head coach Dave Tollett. "It's not necessarily the situation we wanted to be in after tonight, but we still believe in ourselves and know we can rattle off some wins. Give credit to Kennesaw State. They responded from last weekend and got a good outing on the mound with some big hits at the plate. We'll put this one behind and get back out there tomorrow to try and keep our hopes alive."
Redshirt sophomore Josh Dye was credited with the loss.
In the season, FGCU swept Lipscomb on senior day (Gm 1. 4-3 (11), Gm 2. 9-6 and Gm 3. 14-7). The winner of the game would face Kennesaw in the next round and the loser would the third team eliminated.
In the first inning, Lipscomb struck first. After Anderson walked junior A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Michael Gigliotti, and gave up a single to junior A-SUN All-Academic Team member Lee Solomon, Lipscomb scored the first run on sacrifice fly from sophomore A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Zeke Dodson.
FGCU would strike back. After junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez and redshirt junior Gage Morey flew out, redshirt senior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera, hit a two out single to short and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With Rivera on second, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year, Richie Garcia, would hit a single and drive in Rivera to tie the game.
The bats for both teams were very quiet and it was a pitcher's duel between Anderson and Tripp until the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, FGCU's bats would wake up a bit. After Morey grounded out and Rivera flew out, Garcia would start the rally with a walk. After fellow teammate and All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers, was hit by a pitch, senior A-SUN All-Academic Team member Corey Fehribach hit a single to left and drove in Garcia for the second run of the game.
Anderson would continue to pitch well until head coach Dave Tollett decide to pull him. Anderson left the mound with a standing ovation and redshirt junior Kenton Hering would come in to relive Anderson and finish the top of the eighth.
With the score 2-1, in favor of FGCU, the Eagles were not quite finished and hoped to add at least one more run for insurance. Coffers would lead off with a walk. Lipscomb, however pulled junior Nicko Ortega, after playing a third of an inning and send Denton Norman to finish the inning. Coffers would steal second and advance to third on a throwing error before scoring the insurance on a Fehribach fielder's choice before Gonzalez flew out to end the inning.
Hering struck out sophomore Cade Sorrells before giving up a walk to Dodson. After striking out senior A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Hunter Hanks, Hering would get junior Blake Thomas to fly out and end the game.
Anderson would earn his seventh win after throwing 7.1 innings. He gave up one run on four hits while walking two batters and striking out six. Hering earned his sixth save after he threw 1.2 innings with one walk and two strikeouts.
Fehribach was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
Seven of FGCU's nine batters had one hit each.
With the loss, Lipscomb would be the third team eliminated from the tournament and FGCU will face Kennesaw in a rematch. Earlier, KSU lost to JU 8-4 in the winners bracket and ended up in the losers bracket.
With three teams remaining, Jacksonville awaits the winner between FGCU and KSU for the championship game. If either FGCU or KSU beat Jacksonville in the championship game, they would play JU a second time since JU did not lose throughout the whole tournament.
From the matchup with FGCU and KSU again, FGCU will send redshirt junior Mario Leon (4-2, 4.32 ERA) to face redshirt freshman Nathan Dupree (1-5, 10.87 ERA).
FGCU Baseball: Conference Tournament Update 1
The A-SUN Conference Baseball Tournament was initially suppose to start at 11 A.M., but after a very strong rain delay, the tournament went underway at 1:15 P.M.
The first game was No. 1 Jacksonville against No. 6 Lipscomb. JU was ahead of Lipscomb 3-2 going into the fifth inning, but once again, the rain came down hard. After a six and a half hour delay, the game resumed at 7 pm. JU would end up winning the game 8-2 and send Lipscomb to the losers bracket.
"Matt Meyer coming in with a runner on first and the top of the lineup, battling through those top three hitters for Lipscomb was a huge lift for us," said JU Head Coach Chris Hayes. "The way the A-SUN handled this delay was commendable. You never really expect a game to start at 11 a.m. and end at 8 p.m., but I was really proud of the way the guys came out and competed from the first pitch at 11, and then at the restart at 7 p.m."
“This was such an odd game,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand said. “We got some good pitching from Jeffrey Passantino to begin the game, but unfortunately for us the weather forced us to make a change."
“Late in the game we made some good defensive plays to keep the game close, but we just could never find a way to push some runs across, even with the bases loaded. Give Jacksonville credit, they did a good job of limiting our threat.”
The FGCU and UNF was suppose to start at 3 pm, but because of the rain, they started at 9 P.M.
On the mound for FGCU was junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Kutter Crawford (6-1, 1.76 ERA). Crawford would face A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Cooper Bradford (1-3, 2.57 ERA).
At the top of first inning, Crawford started off strong with a strikeout to senior A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Patrick Ervin. After giving up a triple to junior A-SUN All-Conference First Team member, Yahir Gurrola, Crawford was able to get senior A-SUN All-Conference Second Team member Chris Thibideau, and senior A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Alex Merritt to groundout to end the top of the inning.
At the top of the second, Crawford got into a bases loaded situation. After striking out the first batter, Crawford gave up a single and a walk before striking out the second batter. Then after walking the next batter to load the bases, Crawford got Ervin to groundout to end the inning.
FGCU's bats would soon wake up in the bottom of the second. After junior Eli Lovell struck out, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year Richie Garcia started with a single and advanced to second after a failed pickoff attempt. Junior Matt Reardon would hit a single to advance Garcia to third while fellow A-SUN All-Freshman Team member, Marc Coffers, would drive in Garcia on a single for the first run before sophomore Jake Smith grounded out into a double play to end the inning.
By the third inning, FGCU would strike again as junior Spencer Levine would lead off with a single. After junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez, walked, redshirt junior Gage Morey hit a bunt single to load the bases. It left a big scoring opportunity for A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and the A-SUN Player of the Year Nick Rivera. Rivera, however, would hit an infield fly for the first out. After Lovell struck out, Garcia would bring in the second run of the game with a bases loaded walk to drive in Levine and increased the lead to 2-0.
Bradford would exit the game and senior A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Tyler Dupont (1-0, 3.50 ERA), would come in to finish the rest of the inning and strike out Reardon to end the third.
In the bottom of the fourth, Coffers would have his time to shine. The freshman hit a leadoff solo home run to left to increase the score to 3-0. The home run was Coffer's fifth of the year. After Smith and Levine hit back-to-back singles, Gonzalez would walk again to load the bases for Morey. Morey would pop out for the first out.
UNF would once again change pitchers and head coach Smoke Laval would bring in redshirt senior Austin Howze. Howze (3-3, 3.57 ERA) would get Rivera to ground into a double play to end the inning.
The fifth and sixth inning were quiet for the moment, but the Eagles would strike again. Coffers lead off with a single and steal second. After Smith flew out and moved Coffers from second to third, Levine struck out and then Coffers would score the fourth and final run on a wild pitch.
In the ninth inning, redshirt junior Kenton Hering (6-3, 2.28 ERA) would enter in for Crawford in a non-save situation. Hering would strikeout Thibideau and have Merritt lineout. After walking the third batter, Hering would get redshirt senior Christian Diaz to strike out and end the inning.
"That first one is always a big one," said head coach Dave Tollett. "But so are all the others when you get to this point in the season. Kutter was phenomenal on the mound tonight. It took him a couple innings to settle in, but he was almost unhittable once he did. Our offense continued to swing the bats well with 10 more hits, but we even left some runs out there by missing out on some scoring opportunities. It feels good to start out the week with a win. We're just taking this thing one game at a time."
Crawford would be credited with his seventh win after throwing eight scoreless innings, giving up three hits, walk two batters and strike out 10. Hering threw one scoreless inning and walked one batter and strike out two. Hering threw one scoreless inning, walked one batter and strike out two.
Coffers was 3-for-3 with two singles, one home run, two RBIs and two runs scored, Levine and Reardon had two hits each and Garcia was 1-for-3 with a single, one RBI, a walk and one run scored. Rivera went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
UNF will play conference and intercity rival JU at 4:30 pm in the losers bracket.
Due to the long weather delay, the game between No. 5 Kennesaw and tournament host and defending champions No. 2 Stetson was rescheduled on Thursday morning. I found out that day that Kennesaw won against Stetson 10-5. Stetson would end up in the losers bracket and face Lipscomb at 1 pm.
"We gave up a lot of runs today with two outs, and that is really out of character for this team," Stetson head coach Trimper said. "We didn't play within our character. This team has been so strong on the mound, especially with two outs, bulldogging it out. We didn't lose our fight, the guys continued to grind, we just didn't execute baseball plays and baseball pitches like we have been.
"There were just so many things that were uncharacteristic of us and it goes to show you that no one in life is perfect. We have to always learn from our mistakes, and this is a microcosm of that. We have some unbelievable talent on this team and I am so proud of them, but we just didn't execute today when it was important."
FGCU will play Kennesaw at 7:45 pm on Thursday night.
The first game was No. 1 Jacksonville against No. 6 Lipscomb. JU was ahead of Lipscomb 3-2 going into the fifth inning, but once again, the rain came down hard. After a six and a half hour delay, the game resumed at 7 pm. JU would end up winning the game 8-2 and send Lipscomb to the losers bracket.
"Matt Meyer coming in with a runner on first and the top of the lineup, battling through those top three hitters for Lipscomb was a huge lift for us," said JU Head Coach Chris Hayes. "The way the A-SUN handled this delay was commendable. You never really expect a game to start at 11 a.m. and end at 8 p.m., but I was really proud of the way the guys came out and competed from the first pitch at 11, and then at the restart at 7 p.m."
“This was such an odd game,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand said. “We got some good pitching from Jeffrey Passantino to begin the game, but unfortunately for us the weather forced us to make a change."
“Late in the game we made some good defensive plays to keep the game close, but we just could never find a way to push some runs across, even with the bases loaded. Give Jacksonville credit, they did a good job of limiting our threat.”
The FGCU and UNF was suppose to start at 3 pm, but because of the rain, they started at 9 P.M.
On the mound for FGCU was junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Kutter Crawford (6-1, 1.76 ERA). Crawford would face A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Cooper Bradford (1-3, 2.57 ERA).
At the top of first inning, Crawford started off strong with a strikeout to senior A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Patrick Ervin. After giving up a triple to junior A-SUN All-Conference First Team member, Yahir Gurrola, Crawford was able to get senior A-SUN All-Conference Second Team member Chris Thibideau, and senior A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Alex Merritt to groundout to end the top of the inning.
At the top of the second, Crawford got into a bases loaded situation. After striking out the first batter, Crawford gave up a single and a walk before striking out the second batter. Then after walking the next batter to load the bases, Crawford got Ervin to groundout to end the inning.
FGCU's bats would soon wake up in the bottom of the second. After junior Eli Lovell struck out, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year Richie Garcia started with a single and advanced to second after a failed pickoff attempt. Junior Matt Reardon would hit a single to advance Garcia to third while fellow A-SUN All-Freshman Team member, Marc Coffers, would drive in Garcia on a single for the first run before sophomore Jake Smith grounded out into a double play to end the inning.
By the third inning, FGCU would strike again as junior Spencer Levine would lead off with a single. After junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez, walked, redshirt junior Gage Morey hit a bunt single to load the bases. It left a big scoring opportunity for A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and the A-SUN Player of the Year Nick Rivera. Rivera, however, would hit an infield fly for the first out. After Lovell struck out, Garcia would bring in the second run of the game with a bases loaded walk to drive in Levine and increased the lead to 2-0.
Bradford would exit the game and senior A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Tyler Dupont (1-0, 3.50 ERA), would come in to finish the rest of the inning and strike out Reardon to end the third.
In the bottom of the fourth, Coffers would have his time to shine. The freshman hit a leadoff solo home run to left to increase the score to 3-0. The home run was Coffer's fifth of the year. After Smith and Levine hit back-to-back singles, Gonzalez would walk again to load the bases for Morey. Morey would pop out for the first out.
UNF would once again change pitchers and head coach Smoke Laval would bring in redshirt senior Austin Howze. Howze (3-3, 3.57 ERA) would get Rivera to ground into a double play to end the inning.
The fifth and sixth inning were quiet for the moment, but the Eagles would strike again. Coffers lead off with a single and steal second. After Smith flew out and moved Coffers from second to third, Levine struck out and then Coffers would score the fourth and final run on a wild pitch.
In the ninth inning, redshirt junior Kenton Hering (6-3, 2.28 ERA) would enter in for Crawford in a non-save situation. Hering would strikeout Thibideau and have Merritt lineout. After walking the third batter, Hering would get redshirt senior Christian Diaz to strike out and end the inning.
"That first one is always a big one," said head coach Dave Tollett. "But so are all the others when you get to this point in the season. Kutter was phenomenal on the mound tonight. It took him a couple innings to settle in, but he was almost unhittable once he did. Our offense continued to swing the bats well with 10 more hits, but we even left some runs out there by missing out on some scoring opportunities. It feels good to start out the week with a win. We're just taking this thing one game at a time."
Crawford would be credited with his seventh win after throwing eight scoreless innings, giving up three hits, walk two batters and strike out 10. Hering threw one scoreless inning and walked one batter and strike out two. Hering threw one scoreless inning, walked one batter and strike out two.
Coffers was 3-for-3 with two singles, one home run, two RBIs and two runs scored, Levine and Reardon had two hits each and Garcia was 1-for-3 with a single, one RBI, a walk and one run scored. Rivera went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
UNF will play conference and intercity rival JU at 4:30 pm in the losers bracket.
Due to the long weather delay, the game between No. 5 Kennesaw and tournament host and defending champions No. 2 Stetson was rescheduled on Thursday morning. I found out that day that Kennesaw won against Stetson 10-5. Stetson would end up in the losers bracket and face Lipscomb at 1 pm.
"We gave up a lot of runs today with two outs, and that is really out of character for this team," Stetson head coach Trimper said. "We didn't play within our character. This team has been so strong on the mound, especially with two outs, bulldogging it out. We didn't lose our fight, the guys continued to grind, we just didn't execute baseball plays and baseball pitches like we have been.
"There were just so many things that were uncharacteristic of us and it goes to show you that no one in life is perfect. We have to always learn from our mistakes, and this is a microcosm of that. We have some unbelievable talent on this team and I am so proud of them, but we just didn't execute today when it was important."
FGCU will play Kennesaw at 7:45 pm on Thursday night.
FGCU Baseball: A-SUN Conference Tournament Preview
Throughout the season, the FGCU baseball team has had ups and downs, but managed to fight through. FGCU (37-17, 13-8 A-SUN) now readies themselves to the next task: the A-SUN Conference Tournament.
The Standings for the tournament are the order of the seeds by overall and conference record:
#1 Jacksonville (33-22, 16-5 A-SUN)
#2 Stetson (27-27, 15-6 A-SUN)
#3 FGCU (37-17, 13-8 A-SUN)
#4 North Florida (33-22, 12-9 A-SUN)
#5 Kennesaw State (23-30, 10-11 A-SUN)
#6 Lipscomb (27-26, 9-12 A-SUN)
USC Upstate (24-31, 7-14 A-SUN) and NJIT (9-40, 2-19 A-SUN) were not eligible to be in the tournament due to their conference records, although it is no surprise to me that NJIT would be out. Since they joined the A-SUN, NJIT's overall record in two seasons is 26-76 overall, and 4-37 in conference.
Season Breakdown:
In the beginning of the season, FGCU started 7-2 in the first nine home games (3-1 Sacred Heart, 1-0 Eastern Michigan, 2-1 Bethune-Cookman and 1-0 FAU). After that, they went on their first road trip sweeping UNC Wilmington in three games before coming back to face then No. 2 UF (now No. 4) at their secondary home field, JetBlue Park, and won 7-3 before heading back to Gainsville and winning 3-2 to complete the sweep.
Since winning two straight games against Bethune-Cookman, they started a 10-game winning streak beating FAU, UNCW and UF before falling 5-4 to Ohio State in the series finale. They would restart their winning streak by beating the No. 1 Florida State 5-2. From there, the Eagles won 10 straight games again after sweeping Rutgers and Jackson State in three games each, then No. 21 USF, and Miami. The 10-game winning streak tied as the second longest winning streak since 2013 and the longest winning streak since 2009.
During conference play, FGCU faced JU to open conference. They would win the first game 4-0 to make it 10 straight wins, but then things were not looking good after the first conference game. In the second game against JU, an altercation between sophomore pitcher Chris Gau and junior Julio Gonzalez occurred. Gau, unassumingly, threw a pitch at Gonzalez when the umpire called timeout causing ruckus between the two benches.
Now from an unbiased view, I don't think Gau meant to throw at Gonzalez because he probably didn't hear the umpire say timeout. Nevertheless, FGCU would lose the second game 10-5 and ended FGCU's winning streak, but the third game was even worse. In the top of the eighth inning of the third game, JU had the bases loaded and redshirt junior Chris Lehane set up a double play after lining out to left and junior Sam Armstrong was tagged out at home by junior catcher Spencer Levine. Words were exchanged between Levine and Armstrong causing both benches to clear and a fight broke out. Five players were ejected from the game (three from FGCU and two from JU). FGCU would lose 5-2 in 11 innings.
They would lose 5 straight games before finally beating Stetson 4-2 in the second game and beat Miami 5-4 two games later. After winning the series at home against Upstate, FGCU would lose another six straight games including being swept by FIU at home and away, swept by UNF at UNF and losing 1-13 to FAU at FAU. This was tied as the longest losing streak they've had since the 2011 season.
Hoping to recover and snap their losing streak, the Eagles went on the road against NJIT. In the first game, I thought if FGCU loses to NJIT, then there is going to be some problems. The first game was a close one, but FGCU managed to win 7-5 in 10 innings. In the second game, the Eagles scored 20 runs, the most since 2014 when they played former A-SUN Conference member Northern Kentucky. During that 20 run game, seven home runs were hit, which was a program-record. The Eagles swept NJIT and Lipscomb before falling to Miami and finishing with a three game sweep to Kennesaw.
FGCU is listed as the #3 seed in the conference and will play #4 UNF to begin the tournament.
Leading the charge offensively for FGCU is redshirt senior first baseman Nick Rivera. Rivera is batting .308 and currently leads the team in home runs (16), RBIs (54), runs scored (46), walks (51) and total bases (118). During the season and throughout his career, Rivera has set six records for FGCU, the A-SUN and the NCAA: career games played (241, nation's best), career games started (236), career RBIs (214), career doubles (71), career total bases (478), and career home runs (42, A-SUN best 16 home runs). Rivera also leads the nation in career walks (171).
Also joining the offensive fray is junior Julio Gonzalez as well as classmates Eli Lovell and Matt Reardon, redshirt junior Gage Morey and freshman Richie Garcia.
Gonzalez, a transfer from NJCAA Seminole State College (OK), is batting a team-leading .342 batting average with five home runs, 36 RBIs and leads the team with 76 hits.
Lovell, a transfer from NJCAA Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC), is batting .291 with six home runs and 37 RBIs. Lovell also leads the team in doubles (15).
Reardon is batting .280 with one home run and 31 RBIs, but is a potential threat in base-running with nine stolen bases.
Morey is batting .295 with two home runs and 23 RBIs. Morey leads the team in stolen bases (11).
Garcia is batting .277 and is tied with Lovell with six home runs and has 32 RBIs.
Pitching wise, junior Kutter Crawford, redshirt sophomore Josh Dye, redshirt junior Kenton Hering and seniors Garrett Anderson and Sterling Koerner lead the fray for FGCU.
Crawford, a transfer from NJCAA Indian River State College, is currently 6-1 with a 1.71 ERA. Crawford currently leads the team with 81 strikeouts. Crawford's most recent start was against Kennesaw where threw five innings while giving up one run on two hits, walking two and striking out four batters.
Dye is 8-3 with a 3.32 ERA and has gone back and forth between being a starter and reliever. Dye's most recent start ended in a no decision in a win against Kennesaw where he threw 4.2 innings and giving up five runs on five hits while walking one and striking out six batters.
Herring is mainly used as the set-up man from the bullpen. He is currently 6-3 with a 2.32 ERA. In 50.1 innings, Hering has given up 19 runs on 48 hits while walking 16 and striking out 62 batters. He is also credited with four saves in the season.
Anderson is 6-1 with a 3.72 ERA and in 67.2 innings, he has given up 31 runs on 76 hits while walking 19 and striking out 55.
Koerner is mainly the closer for the Eagles. In the series against JU, he struggled severely, but returned as the closer afterwards. Despite going 2-3 on the season, he leads the team with 12 saves.
Scouting UNF:
Players to keep an eye on are junior Yahir Gurrola, senior Chris Thibideau, and sophomores Austin Drury and Frank German.
Gurrola is batting .322 and leads the team with nine home runs and 50 RBIs. Gurrola also is credited with 10 stolen bases.
Thibideau is batting .325 with seven home runs and 35 RBIs. Thibideau leads the team with 14 stolen bases.
On the mound, the duo of Drury and German combine a 14-3 record (German is 8-1 and Drury is 6-2). German leads the team with 71 strikeouts while Drury has 61 strikeouts.
Award Winners:
Before the tournament begins, the A-SUN released the award winners and members of the conference teams. FGCU landed nine awards and seven of the players earned conference team honors:
Crawford, Gonzalez and Rivera tabbed A-SUN First Team All-Conference honors.
Garcia was named A-SUN Freshman of the Year, and along with his fellow freshman teammates, Alex Brait and Marc Coffers, was named on the A-SUN All-Freshman Team.
Rivera was named A-SUN Player of the Year to go with his A-SUN All-Conference First Team honors.
Senior Corey Fehribach was the lone player to be named on the A-SUN All-Academic Team.
The tournament will start at 11 am with #1 JU playing #6 Lipscomb. #3 FGCU will play #4 UNF at 3 pm and #2 Stetson will play #5 Kennesaw at 7 pm.
The tournament will take place and hosted by defending champions Stetson at Conrad Park in Deland, Florida.
Already noted, six teams have already punched their tickets and won an automatic bid to the national tournament and are going to certain regionals:
Long Beach State (Big West Conference)
Yale (Ivy League)
Bethune-Cookman (MEAC)
Oregon State (Pac 12)
Holy Cross (Patriot)
Texas Southern (SAC).
The question is this: Will Stetson defend their championship or will a new team represent the A-SUN? The question will be answered in the next two to three days.
The Standings for the tournament are the order of the seeds by overall and conference record:
#1 Jacksonville (33-22, 16-5 A-SUN)
#2 Stetson (27-27, 15-6 A-SUN)
#3 FGCU (37-17, 13-8 A-SUN)
#4 North Florida (33-22, 12-9 A-SUN)
#5 Kennesaw State (23-30, 10-11 A-SUN)
#6 Lipscomb (27-26, 9-12 A-SUN)
USC Upstate (24-31, 7-14 A-SUN) and NJIT (9-40, 2-19 A-SUN) were not eligible to be in the tournament due to their conference records, although it is no surprise to me that NJIT would be out. Since they joined the A-SUN, NJIT's overall record in two seasons is 26-76 overall, and 4-37 in conference.
Season Breakdown:
In the beginning of the season, FGCU started 7-2 in the first nine home games (3-1 Sacred Heart, 1-0 Eastern Michigan, 2-1 Bethune-Cookman and 1-0 FAU). After that, they went on their first road trip sweeping UNC Wilmington in three games before coming back to face then No. 2 UF (now No. 4) at their secondary home field, JetBlue Park, and won 7-3 before heading back to Gainsville and winning 3-2 to complete the sweep.
Since winning two straight games against Bethune-Cookman, they started a 10-game winning streak beating FAU, UNCW and UF before falling 5-4 to Ohio State in the series finale. They would restart their winning streak by beating the No. 1 Florida State 5-2. From there, the Eagles won 10 straight games again after sweeping Rutgers and Jackson State in three games each, then No. 21 USF, and Miami. The 10-game winning streak tied as the second longest winning streak since 2013 and the longest winning streak since 2009.
During conference play, FGCU faced JU to open conference. They would win the first game 4-0 to make it 10 straight wins, but then things were not looking good after the first conference game. In the second game against JU, an altercation between sophomore pitcher Chris Gau and junior Julio Gonzalez occurred. Gau, unassumingly, threw a pitch at Gonzalez when the umpire called timeout causing ruckus between the two benches.
Now from an unbiased view, I don't think Gau meant to throw at Gonzalez because he probably didn't hear the umpire say timeout. Nevertheless, FGCU would lose the second game 10-5 and ended FGCU's winning streak, but the third game was even worse. In the top of the eighth inning of the third game, JU had the bases loaded and redshirt junior Chris Lehane set up a double play after lining out to left and junior Sam Armstrong was tagged out at home by junior catcher Spencer Levine. Words were exchanged between Levine and Armstrong causing both benches to clear and a fight broke out. Five players were ejected from the game (three from FGCU and two from JU). FGCU would lose 5-2 in 11 innings.
They would lose 5 straight games before finally beating Stetson 4-2 in the second game and beat Miami 5-4 two games later. After winning the series at home against Upstate, FGCU would lose another six straight games including being swept by FIU at home and away, swept by UNF at UNF and losing 1-13 to FAU at FAU. This was tied as the longest losing streak they've had since the 2011 season.
Hoping to recover and snap their losing streak, the Eagles went on the road against NJIT. In the first game, I thought if FGCU loses to NJIT, then there is going to be some problems. The first game was a close one, but FGCU managed to win 7-5 in 10 innings. In the second game, the Eagles scored 20 runs, the most since 2014 when they played former A-SUN Conference member Northern Kentucky. During that 20 run game, seven home runs were hit, which was a program-record. The Eagles swept NJIT and Lipscomb before falling to Miami and finishing with a three game sweep to Kennesaw.
FGCU is listed as the #3 seed in the conference and will play #4 UNF to begin the tournament.
Leading the charge offensively for FGCU is redshirt senior first baseman Nick Rivera. Rivera is batting .308 and currently leads the team in home runs (16), RBIs (54), runs scored (46), walks (51) and total bases (118). During the season and throughout his career, Rivera has set six records for FGCU, the A-SUN and the NCAA: career games played (241, nation's best), career games started (236), career RBIs (214), career doubles (71), career total bases (478), and career home runs (42, A-SUN best 16 home runs). Rivera also leads the nation in career walks (171).
Also joining the offensive fray is junior Julio Gonzalez as well as classmates Eli Lovell and Matt Reardon, redshirt junior Gage Morey and freshman Richie Garcia.
Gonzalez, a transfer from NJCAA Seminole State College (OK), is batting a team-leading .342 batting average with five home runs, 36 RBIs and leads the team with 76 hits.
Lovell, a transfer from NJCAA Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC), is batting .291 with six home runs and 37 RBIs. Lovell also leads the team in doubles (15).
Reardon is batting .280 with one home run and 31 RBIs, but is a potential threat in base-running with nine stolen bases.
Morey is batting .295 with two home runs and 23 RBIs. Morey leads the team in stolen bases (11).
Garcia is batting .277 and is tied with Lovell with six home runs and has 32 RBIs.
Pitching wise, junior Kutter Crawford, redshirt sophomore Josh Dye, redshirt junior Kenton Hering and seniors Garrett Anderson and Sterling Koerner lead the fray for FGCU.
Crawford, a transfer from NJCAA Indian River State College, is currently 6-1 with a 1.71 ERA. Crawford currently leads the team with 81 strikeouts. Crawford's most recent start was against Kennesaw where threw five innings while giving up one run on two hits, walking two and striking out four batters.
Dye is 8-3 with a 3.32 ERA and has gone back and forth between being a starter and reliever. Dye's most recent start ended in a no decision in a win against Kennesaw where he threw 4.2 innings and giving up five runs on five hits while walking one and striking out six batters.
Herring is mainly used as the set-up man from the bullpen. He is currently 6-3 with a 2.32 ERA. In 50.1 innings, Hering has given up 19 runs on 48 hits while walking 16 and striking out 62 batters. He is also credited with four saves in the season.
Anderson is 6-1 with a 3.72 ERA and in 67.2 innings, he has given up 31 runs on 76 hits while walking 19 and striking out 55.
Koerner is mainly the closer for the Eagles. In the series against JU, he struggled severely, but returned as the closer afterwards. Despite going 2-3 on the season, he leads the team with 12 saves.
Scouting UNF:
Players to keep an eye on are junior Yahir Gurrola, senior Chris Thibideau, and sophomores Austin Drury and Frank German.
Gurrola is batting .322 and leads the team with nine home runs and 50 RBIs. Gurrola also is credited with 10 stolen bases.
Thibideau is batting .325 with seven home runs and 35 RBIs. Thibideau leads the team with 14 stolen bases.
On the mound, the duo of Drury and German combine a 14-3 record (German is 8-1 and Drury is 6-2). German leads the team with 71 strikeouts while Drury has 61 strikeouts.
Award Winners:
Before the tournament begins, the A-SUN released the award winners and members of the conference teams. FGCU landed nine awards and seven of the players earned conference team honors:
Crawford, Gonzalez and Rivera tabbed A-SUN First Team All-Conference honors.
Garcia was named A-SUN Freshman of the Year, and along with his fellow freshman teammates, Alex Brait and Marc Coffers, was named on the A-SUN All-Freshman Team.
Rivera was named A-SUN Player of the Year to go with his A-SUN All-Conference First Team honors.
Senior Corey Fehribach was the lone player to be named on the A-SUN All-Academic Team.
The tournament will start at 11 am with #1 JU playing #6 Lipscomb. #3 FGCU will play #4 UNF at 3 pm and #2 Stetson will play #5 Kennesaw at 7 pm.
The tournament will take place and hosted by defending champions Stetson at Conrad Park in Deland, Florida.
Already noted, six teams have already punched their tickets and won an automatic bid to the national tournament and are going to certain regionals:
Long Beach State (Big West Conference)
Yale (Ivy League)
Bethune-Cookman (MEAC)
Oregon State (Pac 12)
Holy Cross (Patriot)
Texas Southern (SAC).
The question is this: Will Stetson defend their championship or will a new team represent the A-SUN? The question will be answered in the next two to three days.
FGCU Athletics Overall: Fall Semester to Partial Spring Semester
Throughout all of the athletics at FGCU, the 2016-17 school year was for the most part successful.
In the fall, nine sports took place and did they have some successful seasons or parts of season continuing that school year: volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, swimming and diving, men's golf, women's golf, men's cross country and women's cross country.
Starting with volleyball, the team had the best record in program history since it's jump to D1 in 2007 (23-3, 11-1 A-Sun). The team ended 27-6 with an 11-3 record in conference.
They began the season a little shaky going 1-2 facing Villinova, Ohio and then No. 21 Western Kentucky at the Ohio Tournament hosted by Ohio University. They lost 0-3 to Villanova, won 3-0 against host Ohio before finishing with a 1-3 loss to WKU. The interesting part of the game against Villanova, assistant coach Kim Maroon was facing her original alma mater.
Hosting the second annual FGCU Hilton Garden Inn Invitational that included the University of Delaware, University of New Orleans and Virginia Commonwealth University, FGCU started with a hot start. They beat all three teams 3-0. Delaware would end the season 16 - 16 and 8-8 in the CAA, UNO would go 5-25 overall and 1-15 in the SLC and VCU would end 19-14 and 8-6 in the A-10.
They then hosted the second annual FGCU Homewood Suites Classic that included University of South Alabama, Marist College and power five team Indiana. They would easily handle South Alabama 3-1 and Marist 3-0, but the battle between FGCU and Indiana was the biggest speed bump in the season. IS. Ala would go 16-14 and 7-9 in the Sun Belt, Marist, who was on a 10 game losing streak in the beginning ended 13 - 17 with a 12-6 record in the MAAC and the UI would go 17-16 and 6-14 in the Big Ten.
Despite the injuries that plagued then freshman Ciara Debell in the volleyball game against Indiana, the volleyball team kept fighting in the game with the help of then freshman Giovanna "GioGio" Borgiotti and Danielle Serrano, who stepped up and fought hard for the team.
Aside from that, they beat Lipscomb for the first time since 2012, and during the time, FGCU had the longest winning streak in the nation (15 straight games) before falling 3-1 to conference rival Kennesaw State. The streak was held by Nebraska (27 straight games) before they fell to Minnesota.
FGCU would be the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. They beat Jacksonville University 3-1 in the quarterfinals and Kennesaw 3-2 in the semifinals, but would fall short to Lipscomb 1-3 in the championship match.
Four seniors finished their last season games of the year: outside hitter Leigh Pudwill, defensive specialist Caroline "C.J." Jordan, middle blocker Marlene "Mar" Moeller and setter Marina "M.A." Adami.
Moeller and Jordan have been there since their freshman while Puwill, who transferred from the University of Northern Iowa and Adami from College of Central Florida weren't, but were very effective.
Five FGCU volleyball players earned A-Sun honors: sophomore setter Maggie Rick earned Setter of the Year, sophomore outside hitter Amanda Carroll and Pudwill earned A-Sun First Team All-Conference honors and Borgiotti and Serrano earned All-Freshman Team honors.
With the four seniors gone, head coach Matt Botsford managed to sign five new players, four from high school and one from a junior college.
With men's and women's cross country, there is really no "record" for them, but the men's team had three first place finishes in the FAU Invitational, UNF Invitational and the Upstate Invitational while the women had season best second place finish in the FAU Invitational.
Leading the reigns for the men were graduate student Luka Ndungu, junior Ronny Greenup, sophomore Maximilian Weigand and freshman Carlin Berryhill. Ndungu, Greenup and Berryhill earned A-Sun All-Conference Honors.
On the women's side, junior Anita Munoz, senior Stephanie Cajas and sophomore Carley Lutzow lead the reigns.
With men's and women's soccer, they was always battles there.
Both teams made it to the nationals, but the men's team went further than the women's.
During the season, the team started a little shaky with a loss to Big Ten's Northwestern, but in front of over 1,000 fans at the soccer complex to witness a 2-2 tie with Michigan.
After winning four straight games against San Francisco, UCF, UNCW and FAU, FGCU was receiving votes to be one of the top 25 teams in the the nation.
During a east coast road trip, FGCU beat NJIT 4-1 and faced Rutgers with 6-5 win. During the game against Rutgers, then junior Albert Ruiz scored and supposedly recorded the fastest hat trick in NCAA Division 1 history in the first nine minutes of the game.
With that game, FGCU ranked at No. 15 in the nation. They would then jump to No. 12 after beating FIU, USF and Stetson.
In the game against USF, 1241 people attended the match. In the end, FGCU beat USF 3-2.
Pushing to No. 11, they would eventually fall to UNF and during that game, a huge fight broke out and things were thrown onto the field. I literally had to hold people back so they wouldn't get in trouble. The men would end up as the No. 20 team in the nation.
Three players that were seniors played their last home game against Upstate: Justin Gavin, Santiago Ortiz and Jack Blatchford III.
In the conference tournament, FGCU, as the No. 2 seed, would beat Lipsomb 3-2 in semifinals and with No. 5 seeded JU beating No. 1 seeded UNF, FGCU would beat JU in the finals and make it to th national tournament. They would beat USF again 2-2 with 3-0 in penalty kicks before falling to UNC 2-3 in double overtime. FGCU would finish 14-4-3 overall with a 4-1-1 record in conference.
Before the postseason, nine players from the team earned awards.
Ruiz would earn Player of the Year and First Team All-Conference honors. He also was a finalist for MAC Hermann Trophy after he lead the team, conference and the nation in goals scored (22). He earned honors for NSCAA First Team All-American, NSCAA All-Southeast Region First Team, earned National Player of the Week two times.
Then juniors Nicolas Samayoa and Kamar Marriott and redshirt sophomore Arion Sobers-Assue also earned First Team All-Conference honors. Then junior Eli Roubos and redshirt junior Dylan Sacramento earned Second Team All-Conference honors. Freshman Miguel Perez, Shak Adams and Jared Brown were named to the All-Freshman Team.
Ruiz, Sacramento, Marriott and Sobers-Assue were named to the NSCAA All-Southeast Region Teams
The men's soccer would lose head coach Bob Butehorn as he took a job as head coach for USF and taking along his assistant coaches too, but luckily, FGCU was able to secure Jesse Cormier as head coach after sucessful season as head coach for Vermont.
With the women's soccer, it was also successful for them. They had their struggles between games during the season.
Playing and struggling against teams like Ohio State and UCF, the women worked really hard. One of the easiest games they played was against Fairleigh-Dickinson where they won 7-1. They made it to the finals of the conference tournament and beat Lipscomb 2-0 and earned an automatic bid in the national tournament where they fell to UF. The women would finish 14-5-1 overall with a 6-0-1 record in conference.
Leading the charge in goals was Tabby Tindell. Tindell is now named the all-time leader in goals scored in the A-Sun. During the matchup against NJIT at home, Tindell set the A-Sun Conference record in goals scored. She ended up with 66 goals in her final season.
Aside from that, seven players of the women's soccer team earned numerous awards.
Tindell was once again named Player of the Year for the third time in her career as well as earning First Team All-Conference honors for all four years, A-Sun Academic All-Conference Team honors for the third time and earned Senior CLASS Third Team All-American honors, NSCAA First Team All-Southeast Region honors and NSCAA Third Team All-American honors.
Fellow then redshirt seniors Ali Rogers and Paulina Speckmaier and redshirt junior Ashley Parks also earned First Team All-Conference honors.
Freshman Lindsey Patton earned Second Team All-Conference as well as All-Freshman Team honors with fellow teammates Melissa Weck and Emilie Olsen.
Then sophomore Camille Knudstrup aldo earned Academic All-Conference Team honors with Tindell.
FGCU would lose Tindell, Speckmaier, Rogers, Sarah Lowicki, Yazmin Velez and Lauren Knight.
The team managed to sign five freshman to come play for FGCU after signing National Letters of Intent to join the team.
In addition, they signed four transfers to join: Kiana Rugar from Albany, Petra Smetkova from Arkansas, Holly Fritz from FSU and Varin Ness from Carson-Newman.
For the swimming and diving team, former head coach Neal Studd left the team to be head coach for FSU and needed a new head coach to lead the reins and that would be Dave Rollins. Prior to FGCU, Rollins spent 10 years as head coach for Ohio State University.
FGCU would go 12-3 overall with a 3-0 record in conference.
Although FGCU competes in the NCAA, they also compete for the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA).
They made it to the CCSA Championship and won it for the eighth time in nine years over the following nine teams: Liberty, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern, Incarnate Word, Campbell, UNC Asheville, UNF, Howard and VMI. As a result, FGCU qualified for the national tournament in Indianapolis.
Award wise, Elmgreen won the Most Outstanding Female Swimmer award because she won the conference crown in both the 100 fly and 200 IM while finishing runner-up in the 200 fly. This marked the third time FGCU won this award.
Wright won the Most Outstanding Female Diver, the first for FGCU.
Latham earned CCSA All-Academic Team honors.
Burdge, Latham, Redding and Teijonsalo also earned CCSA Honorable Mention All-American honors.
Rollins was named Women's Swimming Coach of the Year while one of his assistant coaches, David Boyko, was named Women's Diving Coach of the Year.
During nationals, five eagles represented FGCU: Latham, Teijonsalo and fellow sophomores Gracie Redding and Hannah Burdge did the team relay while Elmgreen did the individual medleys.
FGCU would finish tied for 41st out of 50 teams with Pittsburgh. In the end, USC was the final winner of the national tournament.
No one talks about golf for FGCU because there's really no standings or record for them to tell if they won or not.
On the men's golf team, the players that lead the way were junior Grant Renegar and senior Casper Howells.
Although FGCU finished in fifth place in the conference championship, they had a really good run.
Doug Smith was the only member on the team that won an award as he was named to the A-Sun All-Freshman Team.
On the women's side, they were top notch, depsite finishing second in the conference tournament.
Award wise, senior Megan Blonien earned First Team All-Conference honors.
Junior Madeline Marck-Sherk and freshman Kate Williamson earned Second Team All-Conference honors. In addition, Williamson also earned A-Sun All-Freshman Team honors in the season.
In the fall and partial spring semester, FGCU's athletics continue to grow and will not stop for as long as they want.
In the fall, nine sports took place and did they have some successful seasons or parts of season continuing that school year: volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, swimming and diving, men's golf, women's golf, men's cross country and women's cross country.
Starting with volleyball, the team had the best record in program history since it's jump to D1 in 2007 (23-3, 11-1 A-Sun). The team ended 27-6 with an 11-3 record in conference.
They began the season a little shaky going 1-2 facing Villinova, Ohio and then No. 21 Western Kentucky at the Ohio Tournament hosted by Ohio University. They lost 0-3 to Villanova, won 3-0 against host Ohio before finishing with a 1-3 loss to WKU. The interesting part of the game against Villanova, assistant coach Kim Maroon was facing her original alma mater.
Hosting the second annual FGCU Hilton Garden Inn Invitational that included the University of Delaware, University of New Orleans and Virginia Commonwealth University, FGCU started with a hot start. They beat all three teams 3-0. Delaware would end the season 16 - 16 and 8-8 in the CAA, UNO would go 5-25 overall and 1-15 in the SLC and VCU would end 19-14 and 8-6 in the A-10.
They then hosted the second annual FGCU Homewood Suites Classic that included University of South Alabama, Marist College and power five team Indiana. They would easily handle South Alabama 3-1 and Marist 3-0, but the battle between FGCU and Indiana was the biggest speed bump in the season. IS. Ala would go 16-14 and 7-9 in the Sun Belt, Marist, who was on a 10 game losing streak in the beginning ended 13 - 17 with a 12-6 record in the MAAC and the UI would go 17-16 and 6-14 in the Big Ten.
Despite the injuries that plagued then freshman Ciara Debell in the volleyball game against Indiana, the volleyball team kept fighting in the game with the help of then freshman Giovanna "GioGio" Borgiotti and Danielle Serrano, who stepped up and fought hard for the team.
Aside from that, they beat Lipscomb for the first time since 2012, and during the time, FGCU had the longest winning streak in the nation (15 straight games) before falling 3-1 to conference rival Kennesaw State. The streak was held by Nebraska (27 straight games) before they fell to Minnesota.
FGCU would be the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. They beat Jacksonville University 3-1 in the quarterfinals and Kennesaw 3-2 in the semifinals, but would fall short to Lipscomb 1-3 in the championship match.
Four seniors finished their last season games of the year: outside hitter Leigh Pudwill, defensive specialist Caroline "C.J." Jordan, middle blocker Marlene "Mar" Moeller and setter Marina "M.A." Adami.
Moeller and Jordan have been there since their freshman while Puwill, who transferred from the University of Northern Iowa and Adami from College of Central Florida weren't, but were very effective.
Five FGCU volleyball players earned A-Sun honors: sophomore setter Maggie Rick earned Setter of the Year, sophomore outside hitter Amanda Carroll and Pudwill earned A-Sun First Team All-Conference honors and Borgiotti and Serrano earned All-Freshman Team honors.
With the four seniors gone, head coach Matt Botsford managed to sign five new players, four from high school and one from a junior college.
With men's and women's cross country, there is really no "record" for them, but the men's team had three first place finishes in the FAU Invitational, UNF Invitational and the Upstate Invitational while the women had season best second place finish in the FAU Invitational.
Leading the reigns for the men were graduate student Luka Ndungu, junior Ronny Greenup, sophomore Maximilian Weigand and freshman Carlin Berryhill. Ndungu, Greenup and Berryhill earned A-Sun All-Conference Honors.
On the women's side, junior Anita Munoz, senior Stephanie Cajas and sophomore Carley Lutzow lead the reigns.
With men's and women's soccer, they was always battles there.
Both teams made it to the nationals, but the men's team went further than the women's.
During the season, the team started a little shaky with a loss to Big Ten's Northwestern, but in front of over 1,000 fans at the soccer complex to witness a 2-2 tie with Michigan.
After winning four straight games against San Francisco, UCF, UNCW and FAU, FGCU was receiving votes to be one of the top 25 teams in the the nation.
During a east coast road trip, FGCU beat NJIT 4-1 and faced Rutgers with 6-5 win. During the game against Rutgers, then junior Albert Ruiz scored and supposedly recorded the fastest hat trick in NCAA Division 1 history in the first nine minutes of the game.
With that game, FGCU ranked at No. 15 in the nation. They would then jump to No. 12 after beating FIU, USF and Stetson.
In the game against USF, 1241 people attended the match. In the end, FGCU beat USF 3-2.
Pushing to No. 11, they would eventually fall to UNF and during that game, a huge fight broke out and things were thrown onto the field. I literally had to hold people back so they wouldn't get in trouble. The men would end up as the No. 20 team in the nation.
Three players that were seniors played their last home game against Upstate: Justin Gavin, Santiago Ortiz and Jack Blatchford III.
In the conference tournament, FGCU, as the No. 2 seed, would beat Lipsomb 3-2 in semifinals and with No. 5 seeded JU beating No. 1 seeded UNF, FGCU would beat JU in the finals and make it to th national tournament. They would beat USF again 2-2 with 3-0 in penalty kicks before falling to UNC 2-3 in double overtime. FGCU would finish 14-4-3 overall with a 4-1-1 record in conference.
Before the postseason, nine players from the team earned awards.
Ruiz would earn Player of the Year and First Team All-Conference honors. He also was a finalist for MAC Hermann Trophy after he lead the team, conference and the nation in goals scored (22). He earned honors for NSCAA First Team All-American, NSCAA All-Southeast Region First Team, earned National Player of the Week two times.
Then juniors Nicolas Samayoa and Kamar Marriott and redshirt sophomore Arion Sobers-Assue also earned First Team All-Conference honors. Then junior Eli Roubos and redshirt junior Dylan Sacramento earned Second Team All-Conference honors. Freshman Miguel Perez, Shak Adams and Jared Brown were named to the All-Freshman Team.
Ruiz, Sacramento, Marriott and Sobers-Assue were named to the NSCAA All-Southeast Region Teams
The men's soccer would lose head coach Bob Butehorn as he took a job as head coach for USF and taking along his assistant coaches too, but luckily, FGCU was able to secure Jesse Cormier as head coach after sucessful season as head coach for Vermont.
With the women's soccer, it was also successful for them. They had their struggles between games during the season.
Playing and struggling against teams like Ohio State and UCF, the women worked really hard. One of the easiest games they played was against Fairleigh-Dickinson where they won 7-1. They made it to the finals of the conference tournament and beat Lipscomb 2-0 and earned an automatic bid in the national tournament where they fell to UF. The women would finish 14-5-1 overall with a 6-0-1 record in conference.
Leading the charge in goals was Tabby Tindell. Tindell is now named the all-time leader in goals scored in the A-Sun. During the matchup against NJIT at home, Tindell set the A-Sun Conference record in goals scored. She ended up with 66 goals in her final season.
Aside from that, seven players of the women's soccer team earned numerous awards.
Tindell was once again named Player of the Year for the third time in her career as well as earning First Team All-Conference honors for all four years, A-Sun Academic All-Conference Team honors for the third time and earned Senior CLASS Third Team All-American honors, NSCAA First Team All-Southeast Region honors and NSCAA Third Team All-American honors.
Fellow then redshirt seniors Ali Rogers and Paulina Speckmaier and redshirt junior Ashley Parks also earned First Team All-Conference honors.
Freshman Lindsey Patton earned Second Team All-Conference as well as All-Freshman Team honors with fellow teammates Melissa Weck and Emilie Olsen.
Then sophomore Camille Knudstrup aldo earned Academic All-Conference Team honors with Tindell.
FGCU would lose Tindell, Speckmaier, Rogers, Sarah Lowicki, Yazmin Velez and Lauren Knight.
The team managed to sign five freshman to come play for FGCU after signing National Letters of Intent to join the team.
In addition, they signed four transfers to join: Kiana Rugar from Albany, Petra Smetkova from Arkansas, Holly Fritz from FSU and Varin Ness from Carson-Newman.
For the swimming and diving team, former head coach Neal Studd left the team to be head coach for FSU and needed a new head coach to lead the reins and that would be Dave Rollins. Prior to FGCU, Rollins spent 10 years as head coach for Ohio State University.
FGCU would go 12-3 overall with a 3-0 record in conference.
Although FGCU competes in the NCAA, they also compete for the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA).
They made it to the CCSA Championship and won it for the eighth time in nine years over the following nine teams: Liberty, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern, Incarnate Word, Campbell, UNC Asheville, UNF, Howard and VMI. As a result, FGCU qualified for the national tournament in Indianapolis.
Award wise, Elmgreen won the Most Outstanding Female Swimmer award because she won the conference crown in both the 100 fly and 200 IM while finishing runner-up in the 200 fly. This marked the third time FGCU won this award.
Wright won the Most Outstanding Female Diver, the first for FGCU.
Latham earned CCSA All-Academic Team honors.
Burdge, Latham, Redding and Teijonsalo also earned CCSA Honorable Mention All-American honors.
Rollins was named Women's Swimming Coach of the Year while one of his assistant coaches, David Boyko, was named Women's Diving Coach of the Year.
FGCU would finish tied for 41st out of 50 teams with Pittsburgh. In the end, USC was the final winner of the national tournament.
No one talks about golf for FGCU because there's really no standings or record for them to tell if they won or not.
On the men's golf team, the players that lead the way were junior Grant Renegar and senior Casper Howells.
Although FGCU finished in fifth place in the conference championship, they had a really good run.
Doug Smith was the only member on the team that won an award as he was named to the A-Sun All-Freshman Team.
On the women's side, they were top notch, depsite finishing second in the conference tournament.
Award wise, senior Megan Blonien earned First Team All-Conference honors.
Junior Madeline Marck-Sherk and freshman Kate Williamson earned Second Team All-Conference honors. In addition, Williamson also earned A-Sun All-Freshman Team honors in the season.
In the fall and partial spring semester, FGCU's athletics continue to grow and will not stop for as long as they want.
FGCU Softball: A-Sun Conference Torunament Update 3
After a hard fought tournament, FGCU fell to USC Upstate in the championship game of the A-Sun Conference Softball Tournament.
FGCU (30-30) fell to Upstate (44-11) 8-0 in five innings via the mercy rule.
Upstate claimed their third consecutive A-Sun Championship title and will be going to the regionals of the national tournament.
It was upsetting to hear FGCU lost to Upstate, but they fought hard throughout the whole tournament and was named runner-up in the end.
Four players from Upstate, four players from FGCU and one player each from Kennesaw, UNF and Lipscomb were all named to the All-Tournament Team.
Representing Upstate were senior A-Sun Pitcher of the Year and First Team All-Conference member Holly McKinnon, junior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member, All-Academic Team member and Scholar-Athlete of the Year Lexi Shubert, sophomore Kayla Hussey and sophomore A-Sun First Team All-Conference member and All-Academic Team member Ansley Gilstrap. Gilstrap was also named the MVP for the All-Tournament Team.
Representing FGCU were senior All-Academic Team member Jeanie Verderese, junior LuLu Newmark, senior Bree Tourtillott and sophomore Riley Randolph.
redshirt sophomore Jessie Mullen from Kennesaw, sophomore First Team All-Conference member and All-Academic Team member Navia Penrod from UNF, and sophomore Second Team All-Conference member and All-Academic Team member Mandy Jordan from Lipscomb were also named members of the All-Tournament Team, but were not in attendance due to being eliminated from the tournament.
It is upsetting that FGCU did not make it to the regionals for the national tournament, but working their butts off to make it that far is worth being a winner.
I wish Upstate the best of luck to represent the A-Sun in regionals and the possibility of making it to the national tournament.
FGCU (30-30) fell to Upstate (44-11) 8-0 in five innings via the mercy rule.
Upstate claimed their third consecutive A-Sun Championship title and will be going to the regionals of the national tournament.
It was upsetting to hear FGCU lost to Upstate, but they fought hard throughout the whole tournament and was named runner-up in the end.
Four players from Upstate, four players from FGCU and one player each from Kennesaw, UNF and Lipscomb were all named to the All-Tournament Team.
Representing Upstate were senior A-Sun Pitcher of the Year and First Team All-Conference member Holly McKinnon, junior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member, All-Academic Team member and Scholar-Athlete of the Year Lexi Shubert, sophomore Kayla Hussey and sophomore A-Sun First Team All-Conference member and All-Academic Team member Ansley Gilstrap. Gilstrap was also named the MVP for the All-Tournament Team.
Representing FGCU were senior All-Academic Team member Jeanie Verderese, junior LuLu Newmark, senior Bree Tourtillott and sophomore Riley Randolph.
redshirt sophomore Jessie Mullen from Kennesaw, sophomore First Team All-Conference member and All-Academic Team member Navia Penrod from UNF, and sophomore Second Team All-Conference member and All-Academic Team member Mandy Jordan from Lipscomb were also named members of the All-Tournament Team, but were not in attendance due to being eliminated from the tournament.
It is upsetting that FGCU did not make it to the regionals for the national tournament, but working their butts off to make it that far is worth being a winner.
I wish Upstate the best of luck to represent the A-Sun in regionals and the possibility of making it to the national tournament.
FGCU Softball: A-Sun Conference Torunament Update 2
With four teams, the A-Sun Conference Softball Tournament continues on at Draper Diamond at Smith Stadium.
The four teams that were remaining were No. 1 USC Upstate, No. 2 Kennesaw State, No. 4 FGCU and No. 5 Lipscomb. Lipscomb is the host of this year's A-Sun Conference softball tournament
Earlier in the tournament, Jacksonville (JU) and North Florida (UNF) were eliminated. JU was the first team eliminated after losing to UNF 6-5 in the first round and then losing 4-1 to Lipscomb, who lost 4-0 to FGCU in the first round as well.
UNF won 6-5 against their crosstown conference rival, but then lost to 2-1 to KSU and dropped to the loser's bracket and faced FGCU, who lost 3-0 to Upstate. UNF would end up being the second team eliminated after losing to FGCU 3-0.
With the four teams remaining, Kennesaw received a brief bye and awaited the winner between FGCU and Lipscomb.
FGCU would send sophomore Riley Randolph to the mound again. Randolph pitched four straight games in the tournament. She would face off against senior Mandy Jordan.
At the top of first inning, Randolph had no trouble getting the first three outs.
In the bottom of the first, junior A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Kelsey Huff led off with a single, but then was called out after leaving first base early to get a stolen base. So with the bases empty, junior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Bri Innamorato walked. Sophomore A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Racquel Fournet would hit a single followed by a walk from junior LuLu Newmark.
With a 1-1 count, one out and the bases loaded, junior Brittany McGuire was up to bat, but then the weather drastically changed and rain came down.
After a three hour rain delay with the softball players on both teams dancing to "Whip Nae Nae" and the head coaches of both teams sliding on the tarp that covered the field, the game resumed. McGuire would strikeout as well as senior Bree Tourtillott to end the inning.
Lipscomb would strike first in the top of the second after freshman Chloe Yeager hit an RBI single that drove in sophomore Sarah Higgins, but the bats for FGCU would not be silenced.
Sophomore Morgan Sutherland lead thing off with a double to left. After a sacrifice bunt from senior A-Sun All-Academic Team member Jeanie Verderese, junior Natalie Lopez would bring would hit an RBI fielder's choice and drive in Sutherland. After Huff reached first on an error and advance Lopez to second, Innamorato would pop out giving Fournet an opportunity to give FGCU the lead they needed and she did. Fournet would hit a double to left center driving in Lopez and Huff before Newmark walked and McGuire popped out to end the inning.
From there, Randolph went on cruise control and struck out the Lipscomb's final batter and FGCU would win 3-1.
Fournet had the only mulit-hit game for FGCU going 2-3 with a single and the two run double.
Randolph, who would win her 18th game of the year, pitched a complete game giving up one run on four hits, while walking one batter and striking out six.
As a result, Lipscomb, the host team, was the third team eliminated from the tournament.
FGCU will face Kennesaw and the winner will face Upstate in the championship game on Saturday at 1 pm with another if necessary.
At 8 pm, FGCU and KSU faced off to decide who plays Upstate and who is eliminated. Both teams last played each other in the season. The series between them was tied. Kennesaw won the first game 4-3 in eight innings and FGCU won the second game 3-0. FGCU was ahead of KSU 1-0 going into the fifth inning, but then after heavy rainfall, the rubber match was cancelled and all the stats of the third game were nullified.
Randolph finally got a small break from pitching and coach Deiros put in senior Taylor Wade to start the game. KSU would go with redshirt junior Abigail Green.
The bats of both teams were really quiet and it was a pitcher's duel between Wade and Green for five innings.
In the top of the sixth, bats were finally waking up a bit.
After Huff and Lopez grounded out as the first two outs, Fournet struck a two out double to left center. Newmark would then strike a single to left, moving Fournet to third base for Innamorato. Innamorato has had a big share of driving in game winning or go ahead runs that are late in the game. On the first pitch, Innamorato connected with a first pitch single to left, driving in Fournet to score before McGuire lined out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Wade was in a little fix.
After getting the first two outs, she walked A-Sun Player of the Year and A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Courtney Sutter. After Sutter was replaced by Andrea Summey to pinch run. After a wild pitch thrown, Wade gave up a single to A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Noelle Winkles, but a ground out from A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Katey Lynch to Verderese saved Wade from giving up a run.
KSU pulled out Green and put in redshirt freshman Alley Cutting for an inning of relief in the top of the seventh. FGCU went scoreless and couldn't produce another run.
At the bottom of the seventh, Wade gave up a single to Jessie Mullen and got one out on ground out to third.
Deiros pulled her out and put Randolph in for a save situation with a runner in scoring position. After A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Taylor Denton to Randolph, it was up to A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Hannah Thomason to keep the Owls alive, but a ground out to McGuire proved too much for her and FGCU would win 1-0.
As a result, Kennesaw was the fourth team eliminated from the tournament, so it all comes down to two teams: FGCU and Upstate.
Wade, who earned her 10th win of the year, threw 6.1 innings giving up five hits and walking two batters and striking out one.
Randolph earned her second save of the game after throwing two thirds of an inning.
Fournet's double in the game was her 16th of the year.
FGCU will face Upstate once again in the championship game at 2 pm ET, but this is not the first time the two teams met in the championship.
Last year, Upstate won the conference championship as the No.2 seed while FGCU was the No. 1 seed in the conference. FGCU lost the game 5-1 and Upstate would go to the national tournament.
This could be dubbed as a rematch and vengeance game for FGCU against Upstate. Whoever wins represents the A-Sun in the named super regional in the national tournament.
I would guess that the pitcher's duel for both teams in the championship game would probably be Randolph and Mckinnon.
The four teams that were remaining were No. 1 USC Upstate, No. 2 Kennesaw State, No. 4 FGCU and No. 5 Lipscomb. Lipscomb is the host of this year's A-Sun Conference softball tournament
Earlier in the tournament, Jacksonville (JU) and North Florida (UNF) were eliminated. JU was the first team eliminated after losing to UNF 6-5 in the first round and then losing 4-1 to Lipscomb, who lost 4-0 to FGCU in the first round as well.
UNF won 6-5 against their crosstown conference rival, but then lost to 2-1 to KSU and dropped to the loser's bracket and faced FGCU, who lost 3-0 to Upstate. UNF would end up being the second team eliminated after losing to FGCU 3-0.
With the four teams remaining, Kennesaw received a brief bye and awaited the winner between FGCU and Lipscomb.
FGCU would send sophomore Riley Randolph to the mound again. Randolph pitched four straight games in the tournament. She would face off against senior Mandy Jordan.
In the bottom of the first, junior A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Kelsey Huff led off with a single, but then was called out after leaving first base early to get a stolen base. So with the bases empty, junior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Bri Innamorato walked. Sophomore A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Racquel Fournet would hit a single followed by a walk from junior LuLu Newmark.
With a 1-1 count, one out and the bases loaded, junior Brittany McGuire was up to bat, but then the weather drastically changed and rain came down.
After a three hour rain delay with the softball players on both teams dancing to "Whip Nae Nae" and the head coaches of both teams sliding on the tarp that covered the field, the game resumed. McGuire would strikeout as well as senior Bree Tourtillott to end the inning.
Lipscomb would strike first in the top of the second after freshman Chloe Yeager hit an RBI single that drove in sophomore Sarah Higgins, but the bats for FGCU would not be silenced.
Sophomore Morgan Sutherland lead thing off with a double to left. After a sacrifice bunt from senior A-Sun All-Academic Team member Jeanie Verderese, junior Natalie Lopez would bring would hit an RBI fielder's choice and drive in Sutherland. After Huff reached first on an error and advance Lopez to second, Innamorato would pop out giving Fournet an opportunity to give FGCU the lead they needed and she did. Fournet would hit a double to left center driving in Lopez and Huff before Newmark walked and McGuire popped out to end the inning.
From there, Randolph went on cruise control and struck out the Lipscomb's final batter and FGCU would win 3-1.
Fournet had the only mulit-hit game for FGCU going 2-3 with a single and the two run double.
Randolph, who would win her 18th game of the year, pitched a complete game giving up one run on four hits, while walking one batter and striking out six.
As a result, Lipscomb, the host team, was the third team eliminated from the tournament.
FGCU will face Kennesaw and the winner will face Upstate in the championship game on Saturday at 1 pm with another if necessary.
At 8 pm, FGCU and KSU faced off to decide who plays Upstate and who is eliminated. Both teams last played each other in the season. The series between them was tied. Kennesaw won the first game 4-3 in eight innings and FGCU won the second game 3-0. FGCU was ahead of KSU 1-0 going into the fifth inning, but then after heavy rainfall, the rubber match was cancelled and all the stats of the third game were nullified.
Randolph finally got a small break from pitching and coach Deiros put in senior Taylor Wade to start the game. KSU would go with redshirt junior Abigail Green.
The bats of both teams were really quiet and it was a pitcher's duel between Wade and Green for five innings.
In the top of the sixth, bats were finally waking up a bit.
After Huff and Lopez grounded out as the first two outs, Fournet struck a two out double to left center. Newmark would then strike a single to left, moving Fournet to third base for Innamorato. Innamorato has had a big share of driving in game winning or go ahead runs that are late in the game. On the first pitch, Innamorato connected with a first pitch single to left, driving in Fournet to score before McGuire lined out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Wade was in a little fix.
After getting the first two outs, she walked A-Sun Player of the Year and A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Courtney Sutter. After Sutter was replaced by Andrea Summey to pinch run. After a wild pitch thrown, Wade gave up a single to A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Noelle Winkles, but a ground out from A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Katey Lynch to Verderese saved Wade from giving up a run.
KSU pulled out Green and put in redshirt freshman Alley Cutting for an inning of relief in the top of the seventh. FGCU went scoreless and couldn't produce another run.
At the bottom of the seventh, Wade gave up a single to Jessie Mullen and got one out on ground out to third.
Deiros pulled her out and put Randolph in for a save situation with a runner in scoring position. After A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Taylor Denton to Randolph, it was up to A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Hannah Thomason to keep the Owls alive, but a ground out to McGuire proved too much for her and FGCU would win 1-0.
As a result, Kennesaw was the fourth team eliminated from the tournament, so it all comes down to two teams: FGCU and Upstate.
Wade, who earned her 10th win of the year, threw 6.1 innings giving up five hits and walking two batters and striking out one.
Randolph earned her second save of the game after throwing two thirds of an inning.
Fournet's double in the game was her 16th of the year.
FGCU will face Upstate once again in the championship game at 2 pm ET, but this is not the first time the two teams met in the championship.
Last year, Upstate won the conference championship as the No.2 seed while FGCU was the No. 1 seed in the conference. FGCU lost the game 5-1 and Upstate would go to the national tournament.
This could be dubbed as a rematch and vengeance game for FGCU against Upstate. Whoever wins represents the A-Sun in the named super regional in the national tournament.
I would guess that the pitcher's duel for both teams in the championship game would probably be Randolph and Mckinnon.
FGCU Softball: A-Sun Conference Torunament Update 1
The FGCU softball team had just competed in two days of competition in the A-Sun Conference Softball Tournament and are still fighting.
FGCU (28-29) is the No. 4 seed going into the tournament.
The first team they played was against No. 5 Lipscomb (35-19). Lipscomb and FGCU met in the last series of games with FGCU winning the series 2-1 (Gm 1 3-2 FGCU, Gm 2 10-2 LU, Gm 3 4-0 FGCU). The winner of that matchup would play No. 1 seed USC Upstate in the winners bracket.
Hoping for a revenge match to go into the winners bracket of the tournament, Lipscomb sent All-Academic Team member McCarley Thomas to face sophomore Riley Randolph.
It was scoreless from the first inning to the top of the second inning.
Then FGCU struck first.
Junior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Brianne Innamorato started with a lead-off walk and then advanced to third base on a single from junior LuLu Newmark. After junior Brittany McGuire flew out, senior Brianna Tourtillott hit a pop fly in the infield for a single after the catcher, pitcher and third baseman failed to catch it leaving the bases loaded. Sophomore Morgan Sutherland drove in the first run with a bases loaded walk bringing in Innamorato. Junior Natalie Lopez also drew a bases loaded walk that drove in Newmark.
With the score 2-0, junior A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Kelsey Huff drove in the third on a bloop single to center field driving in Tourtillott.
Lipscomb changed pitchers and put in senior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Mandy Jordan.
The bats ended after senior All-Academic Team member Jeanie Verderese hit an infield fly and sophomore A-Sun Second Team All-Conference and All-Academic Team member Racquel Fournet grounded out to end the second.
In the third inning, the run support continued.
After Innamorato grounded out, Newmark hit a solo home run to left and increased the lead to 4-0 before McGuire and Tourtillott ended the inning. Newmark's home run was the fourth of her season and is currently tied with the most home runs with McGuire and Fournet.
There Randolph took over from there with plenty of defensive help.
Randolph was in a few base running situations.
In the seventh inning, Randolph struck out catcher Abby Fenichal to start. After giving up a single to Sarah Higgins, Randolph faced A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Caitlin Plocheck, who leads the team in home runs (9). Randolph struck her out before giving up another single to A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Peyton Ward. The game ended thanks to the Tourtillott. Higgins attempted to steal third base, but the senior catcher caught her stealing and got her out to end the game.
FGCU would win the game 4-0.
Randolph threw a complete game shutout giving up four hits and striking out nine batters.
Newmark was the only eagle with the multi-hit game going 2-2 with a walk and the solo home run.
Lipscomb threw six walks to FGCU.
Earlier, No.3 UNF faced No. 6 JU and won 6-5 on a walkoff win meaning JU would face Lipscomb in the losers bracket.
FGCU would face Upstate while UNF faced No. 2 Kennesaw State.
On day two of the tournament. FGCU would fall to Upstate 3-0 and be sent to the loser's bracket.
Upstate's senior pitcher, and A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Lexi Shubert would get the win over Randolph before senior A-Sun Pitcher of the Year and A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Holly McKinnon would be credited with her fourth save of the year.
UNF was also sent to the loser's bracket after falling 2-1 to KSU.
Facing double elimination, JU, UNF, FGCU and Lipscomb played.
Lipscomb faced JU and won 4-1. JU was the first team eliminated.
FGCU and UNF faced each other in the season and UNF won the series 2-1 (Gm 1 2-0 UNF, Gm 2 6-4 UNF, Gm 3 5-2 FGCU)
Head coach David Deiros would once again send Randolph. This was Randolph's third straight game she played in. UNF would send senior Logan Green.
After a scoreless first, FGCU struck first. After Newmark lined out and McGuire flew out, Tourtillott would start with a two out infield single. After a Sutherland walk, Verderese would hit a bloop single and drive in Tourtillott before Lopez grounded out.
By the fourth inning, Randolph was getting tired.
After walking the first batter, Tourtillott would once again stop the runner from being in scoring position as Co-Defensive Player of the Year and A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Kayla McGory was caught trying to steal second base.
From there, Randolph would have sophomore A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Dominica Cocuzza groundout before striking out junior Ashley Niesman.
Senior Taylor Wade would enter the game in the fifth inning and Newmark and Tourtillott would trade places.
Tourtillott would go from catcher to designated player while Newmark would go from designated player to catcher.
It remained scoreless until the top of the seventh.
Tourtillott would start with a leadoff single. Junior Emily Demurias would pinch run for Tourtillott and Sutherland would walk. After a sacrifice bunt from Verderese, Lopez would hit a bunt single to drive in Demurias for the second run. Huff would follow with a squeeze sacrifice bunt to drive in Sutherland for the third run before Innamorato ended the inning with a ground out.
Despite walking one batter and giving up a single in the bottom of the seventh, Wade would finish the inning scoreless.
FGCU would win 3-0 and UNF would be the second team eliminated from the tournament.
Tourtillott was 3-3 with a run scored on three singles and had three of FGCU's five hits.
Randolph was credited with the win after throwing four shutout innings while giving up two hits and two walks while striking out one batter.
Wade was credited with the save after throwing three scoreless inning and giving up two hits and one walk while striking out one batter.
Kennesaw faced Upstate in a hard fought battle for another bye round. It was also a battle between senior A-Sun Player of the Year Courtney Sutter and McKinnon. Sutter would hit her 14th home run of the A-Sun Pitcher of the Year, but ultimately Upstate would and win 5-4 on a game-winning sacrifice bunt from A-Sun Second Team All-Conference Brittany Case and bringing in A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Ansley Gilstrap. KSU will end up in the loser's bracket while Upstate will have a bye-round and be in the championship game to face either Lipscomb, FGCU or KSU from the loser's bracket on Saturday at 1 pm.
Four teams remain in the tournament with their RPI ranking points:
No. 1 Upstate RPI: 41
No. 2 KSU RPI: 46
No. 4 FGCU RPI: 86
No. 5 Lipscomb RPI: 50
If Upstate were to lose in the championship game, they would play one of three teams again at a time in the late afternoon or early evening. The winner would automatically earn a spot in the national tournament.
Last year, Upstate represented the A-Sun after beating FGCU in the championship game and made it to the Auburn Super Regional in the Women's College World Series. They would beat Oregon State of the Pac-12 Conference 5-2 before falling to Auburn of the SEC 6-1 and Jacksonville State of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) 3-2.
Here are some facts about the four remaining softball teams in the tournament:
1. FGCU has not been in the national tournament since 2012
2. Lipscomb has not been to the national tournament since 2010
3. Upstate has been in the national tournament representing the A-Sun four years in a row (2013-16)
The games will still air on ESPN3.com. Lipscomb and FGCU will face each other once again on Friday at 3 pm CT. The winner of that game will face KSU at 5:30 pm CT and the third team will be eliminated from the tournament.
The winner of the tournament would earn an automatic bid in the national tournament, but which regional they play in will be determined by a selection show. It is also possible that one of the teams will earn an at-large bid.
In my opinion, honestly, if we make the tournament, then the team I want us to face in the tournament is either Florida, the current No. 1 team in the nation, FSU, the current No. 4 team in the nation or USF.
Why USF, FSU or UF? Because we faced all three teams in the past in the 2012 national tournament at the Tampa Super Regionals. We beat Florida before 2-1 and then fell to USF 8-3 before falling to Florida 6-2. With FSU, they beat us at home and the third would be the charm to attempt to beat the Seminoles or Bulls and rubber match with the Gators.
FGCU (28-29) is the No. 4 seed going into the tournament.
The first team they played was against No. 5 Lipscomb (35-19). Lipscomb and FGCU met in the last series of games with FGCU winning the series 2-1 (Gm 1 3-2 FGCU, Gm 2 10-2 LU, Gm 3 4-0 FGCU). The winner of that matchup would play No. 1 seed USC Upstate in the winners bracket.
Hoping for a revenge match to go into the winners bracket of the tournament, Lipscomb sent All-Academic Team member McCarley Thomas to face sophomore Riley Randolph.
It was scoreless from the first inning to the top of the second inning.
Then FGCU struck first.
Junior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Brianne Innamorato started with a lead-off walk and then advanced to third base on a single from junior LuLu Newmark. After junior Brittany McGuire flew out, senior Brianna Tourtillott hit a pop fly in the infield for a single after the catcher, pitcher and third baseman failed to catch it leaving the bases loaded. Sophomore Morgan Sutherland drove in the first run with a bases loaded walk bringing in Innamorato. Junior Natalie Lopez also drew a bases loaded walk that drove in Newmark.
With the score 2-0, junior A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Kelsey Huff drove in the third on a bloop single to center field driving in Tourtillott.
Lipscomb changed pitchers and put in senior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Mandy Jordan.
The bats ended after senior All-Academic Team member Jeanie Verderese hit an infield fly and sophomore A-Sun Second Team All-Conference and All-Academic Team member Racquel Fournet grounded out to end the second.
In the third inning, the run support continued.
After Innamorato grounded out, Newmark hit a solo home run to left and increased the lead to 4-0 before McGuire and Tourtillott ended the inning. Newmark's home run was the fourth of her season and is currently tied with the most home runs with McGuire and Fournet.
There Randolph took over from there with plenty of defensive help.
Randolph was in a few base running situations.
In the seventh inning, Randolph struck out catcher Abby Fenichal to start. After giving up a single to Sarah Higgins, Randolph faced A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Caitlin Plocheck, who leads the team in home runs (9). Randolph struck her out before giving up another single to A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Peyton Ward. The game ended thanks to the Tourtillott. Higgins attempted to steal third base, but the senior catcher caught her stealing and got her out to end the game.
FGCU would win the game 4-0.
Randolph threw a complete game shutout giving up four hits and striking out nine batters.
Newmark was the only eagle with the multi-hit game going 2-2 with a walk and the solo home run.
Lipscomb threw six walks to FGCU.
Earlier, No.3 UNF faced No. 6 JU and won 6-5 on a walkoff win meaning JU would face Lipscomb in the losers bracket.
FGCU would face Upstate while UNF faced No. 2 Kennesaw State.
On day two of the tournament. FGCU would fall to Upstate 3-0 and be sent to the loser's bracket.
Upstate's senior pitcher, and A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Lexi Shubert would get the win over Randolph before senior A-Sun Pitcher of the Year and A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Holly McKinnon would be credited with her fourth save of the year.
UNF was also sent to the loser's bracket after falling 2-1 to KSU.
Facing double elimination, JU, UNF, FGCU and Lipscomb played.
Lipscomb faced JU and won 4-1. JU was the first team eliminated.
FGCU and UNF faced each other in the season and UNF won the series 2-1 (Gm 1 2-0 UNF, Gm 2 6-4 UNF, Gm 3 5-2 FGCU)
Head coach David Deiros would once again send Randolph. This was Randolph's third straight game she played in. UNF would send senior Logan Green.
After a scoreless first, FGCU struck first. After Newmark lined out and McGuire flew out, Tourtillott would start with a two out infield single. After a Sutherland walk, Verderese would hit a bloop single and drive in Tourtillott before Lopez grounded out.
By the fourth inning, Randolph was getting tired.
After walking the first batter, Tourtillott would once again stop the runner from being in scoring position as Co-Defensive Player of the Year and A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Kayla McGory was caught trying to steal second base.
From there, Randolph would have sophomore A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Dominica Cocuzza groundout before striking out junior Ashley Niesman.
Senior Taylor Wade would enter the game in the fifth inning and Newmark and Tourtillott would trade places.
Tourtillott would go from catcher to designated player while Newmark would go from designated player to catcher.
It remained scoreless until the top of the seventh.
Tourtillott would start with a leadoff single. Junior Emily Demurias would pinch run for Tourtillott and Sutherland would walk. After a sacrifice bunt from Verderese, Lopez would hit a bunt single to drive in Demurias for the second run. Huff would follow with a squeeze sacrifice bunt to drive in Sutherland for the third run before Innamorato ended the inning with a ground out.
Despite walking one batter and giving up a single in the bottom of the seventh, Wade would finish the inning scoreless.
FGCU would win 3-0 and UNF would be the second team eliminated from the tournament.
Tourtillott was 3-3 with a run scored on three singles and had three of FGCU's five hits.
Randolph was credited with the win after throwing four shutout innings while giving up two hits and two walks while striking out one batter.
Wade was credited with the save after throwing three scoreless inning and giving up two hits and one walk while striking out one batter.
Kennesaw faced Upstate in a hard fought battle for another bye round. It was also a battle between senior A-Sun Player of the Year Courtney Sutter and McKinnon. Sutter would hit her 14th home run of the A-Sun Pitcher of the Year, but ultimately Upstate would and win 5-4 on a game-winning sacrifice bunt from A-Sun Second Team All-Conference Brittany Case and bringing in A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Ansley Gilstrap. KSU will end up in the loser's bracket while Upstate will have a bye-round and be in the championship game to face either Lipscomb, FGCU or KSU from the loser's bracket on Saturday at 1 pm.
Four teams remain in the tournament with their RPI ranking points:
No. 1 Upstate RPI: 41
No. 2 KSU RPI: 46
No. 4 FGCU RPI: 86
No. 5 Lipscomb RPI: 50
If Upstate were to lose in the championship game, they would play one of three teams again at a time in the late afternoon or early evening. The winner would automatically earn a spot in the national tournament.
Last year, Upstate represented the A-Sun after beating FGCU in the championship game and made it to the Auburn Super Regional in the Women's College World Series. They would beat Oregon State of the Pac-12 Conference 5-2 before falling to Auburn of the SEC 6-1 and Jacksonville State of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) 3-2.
Here are some facts about the four remaining softball teams in the tournament:
1. FGCU has not been in the national tournament since 2012
2. Lipscomb has not been to the national tournament since 2010
3. Upstate has been in the national tournament representing the A-Sun four years in a row (2013-16)
The games will still air on ESPN3.com. Lipscomb and FGCU will face each other once again on Friday at 3 pm CT. The winner of that game will face KSU at 5:30 pm CT and the third team will be eliminated from the tournament.
The winner of the tournament would earn an automatic bid in the national tournament, but which regional they play in will be determined by a selection show. It is also possible that one of the teams will earn an at-large bid.
In my opinion, honestly, if we make the tournament, then the team I want us to face in the tournament is either Florida, the current No. 1 team in the nation, FSU, the current No. 4 team in the nation or USF.
Why USF, FSU or UF? Because we faced all three teams in the past in the 2012 national tournament at the Tampa Super Regionals. We beat Florida before 2-1 and then fell to USF 8-3 before falling to Florida 6-2. With FSU, they beat us at home and the third would be the charm to attempt to beat the Seminoles or Bulls and rubber match with the Gators.
Softball Armbands for Plays
Watching softball, there have been a few changes I have noticed for a few years that softball teams use armbands for plays. Yes I said it: softball teams use armbands for plays.
When people think of using an armband for any sport, the top sport that come into mind that normally uses the bands for plays is football.
I first noticed the armbands for softball coming into play at SCF in spring 2015. There were a few teams I watched play my junior college in softball with the bands and I hear the opposing coaches from the dugout call out three to four numbers from 0-5, sometimes repeating them to the players just in case they missed the numbers the first time and then the players look at the bands for the numbers that are called out and the pitcher pitches the ball. Then they wait again for the next set of numbers to be called. The process keeps over and over again until the batter is out of the batters box, which takes a rigorous amount of time depending on the batter, pitcher and coach calling out the numbers.
According to a discussion on scout.com on the armbands in softball, there are numerous mixed reactions.
One example a person wrote on a pro of using the armbands was this:
"I use them offensively. Started doing so years ago. The team I was coaching at the time missed a lot of signs in the previous season, so I switched over to this system. We almost never missed signs using it, and it sped up the game for us. It was much quicker to give a number and have the kids look at the wrist band than to stand there giving a bunch of signs. If you set the card up correctly, it can be very quick and easy to find."
It seems reasonable. On the other hand, people can disagree about it. Here's another example of someone writing that are against using the armbands:
"I personally hate them. Wastes too much time and usually adds more confusion to the pitcher/catcher combo. If someone is good enough at picking signals and has players good enough to react to a coach relaying them as the pitcher is in her windup, then they are way above anyone I have played against or with. Once your catcher gets the signal (if she is not calling the game) the pitcher needs only a glance to begin the pitch. I like finger signs with a key for pitches and locations but that's just me. The key can be changed for either as the game progresses, has worked forever and a day and will work today!"
When people think of using an armband for any sport, the top sport that come into mind that normally uses the bands for plays is football.
I first noticed the armbands for softball coming into play at SCF in spring 2015. There were a few teams I watched play my junior college in softball with the bands and I hear the opposing coaches from the dugout call out three to four numbers from 0-5, sometimes repeating them to the players just in case they missed the numbers the first time and then the players look at the bands for the numbers that are called out and the pitcher pitches the ball. Then they wait again for the next set of numbers to be called. The process keeps over and over again until the batter is out of the batters box, which takes a rigorous amount of time depending on the batter, pitcher and coach calling out the numbers.
According to a discussion on scout.com on the armbands in softball, there are numerous mixed reactions.
One example a person wrote on a pro of using the armbands was this:
"I use them offensively. Started doing so years ago. The team I was coaching at the time missed a lot of signs in the previous season, so I switched over to this system. We almost never missed signs using it, and it sped up the game for us. It was much quicker to give a number and have the kids look at the wrist band than to stand there giving a bunch of signs. If you set the card up correctly, it can be very quick and easy to find."
It seems reasonable. On the other hand, people can disagree about it. Here's another example of someone writing that are against using the armbands:
"I personally hate them. Wastes too much time and usually adds more confusion to the pitcher/catcher combo. If someone is good enough at picking signals and has players good enough to react to a coach relaying them as the pitcher is in her windup, then they are way above anyone I have played against or with. Once your catcher gets the signal (if she is not calling the game) the pitcher needs only a glance to begin the pitch. I like finger signs with a key for pitches and locations but that's just me. The key can be changed for either as the game progresses, has worked forever and a day and will work today!"
As someone who watches a lot of college softball and baseball games at a junior college and university level, I'm very old school with baseball, let alone softball, so personally I am 100% against using them. They do waste a lot of time and slow the game and the inning(s) down. It adds more confusion and so much communication is lost between the pitcher and catcher.
Since I'm very old school, I feel like the armbands break and ruin the traditional ways of playing the game and I'm so use to seeing the coaches use hand and arm gestures because it's actually more accurate than just looking briefly at the bands and then doing the play(s).
Just recently, I watched on UNF play JU in the first round of the A-SUN Conference Softball Tournament on ESPN 3, and UNF was using the armbands while they were on the field and for base running. When they were batting, the coach at third base had a laminated paper in her hand with plays and every time the runners get on base, she yells out three numbers and the base-runners looks at the armband as well as the batter in the batter's box and just seeing it, I don't like it.
Everyone has an opinion on the bands, including me, but the question to my readers is this: What do you think?
FGCU Softball: A-Sun Conference Tournament
With the final six seeds locked in, six of the seven teams from the A-Sun will be competing in the A-Sun Conference Softall Tournament.
The six teams in the seed order are the ones going to the tournament:
1. USC Upstate (41-11, 14-4)
2. Kennesaw State (35-16, 11-6)
3. UNF (30-25, 9-9)
4. FGCU (26-28, 8-9)
5. Lipscomb (35-18, 8-10)
6. Jacksonville (30-23, 8-10)
Stetson (26-21, 4-14) was eliminated by JU in the final series and was not eligible to play in the tournament not just because of their conference record, but also because there is an odd number of teams with softball in the A-Sun. NJIT does not have a softball team in their athletic programs and the newest member of the A-Sun, the University of Northern Alabama (UNA) will not appear until the 2018-19 school year.
Out of all the teams in the A-Sun by overall record, Upstate is the strong seed in the tournament while FGCU is somewhat the weakest, but that doesn't always mean anything because anything can change.
The scenario of the tournament goes like so:
1. Upstate and KSU have a first round bye.
2. Seeds 3-6 will play in opening rounds. UNF will face JU while FGCU faces Lipscomb.
3. The tournament is double elimination.
4. The winner of the tournament will claim an automatic bid for the national tournament.
In the last series of games, FGCU played Lipscomb in their final conference series at home.
In the first game, FGCU took the first one with a 3-2 win in extra innings. sophomore Riley Randolph was credited with the win after throwing nine innings while giving up two runs on four hits while walking one and striking out seven batters. Randolph went into a pitching dual with sophomore Mandy Jordan. Jordan was the leader in wins in the A-Sun conference (22).
The hero of the game was junior Brianne Innamorato. Innamorato went 4-5 in with a double and three singles, one of them being the one that drove in the game-winning run in the ninth inning.
Another big help was from junior LuLu Newmark. Newmark 1-3 and hit a solo home run that hit off the scoreboard.
In the second game, Lipscomb would get a revenge match and beat FGCU 10-2.
The rubber match was to decide who would claim the No. 4 seed in the tournament. If FGCU would have won the second game against Lipscomb, they would get a chance to become the No. 3 seed, but Upstate would need to sweep UNF to help. But since Lipscomb won, FGCU would have to fight for the No. 4 seed.
On the mound for the third game was senior Taylor Wade. Wade pitched in the second game, but was pulled out in the fifth.
Hope to redeem the last game, she would face Jordan again.
The first two innings went by fast. Going into the bottom of the third, things changed.
It started with a lead off walk to sophomore Morgan Sutherland. After a sacrifice bunt by junior Natalie Lopez, junior Kelsey Huff would walk and senior Jeanie Verderese would then single to left to load the bases for sophomore Racquel Fournet. Fournet would hit a single to right, bringing Sutherland. Innamorato would then hit a base-loaded two run double to right center that drove in Huff and Verderese.
Jordan would be pulled after 2.1 innings pitched and senior McCarley Thomas would pitch the rest of the game.
After a Newmark walk to once again load the bases, junior Brittany McGuire would drive Fournet home as the fourth and final run on a bases-loaded single before freshman Morgan White struck out and Sutherland grounded out to end the inning. FGCU batted around in the fourth inning.
Wade would finish the game on cruise control and FGCU would win 4-0 and claim the No. 4 seed.
Wade threw a complete game shutout while giving up seven hits and walking two batters.
Verderese was the only FGCU player that had a multi-hit game going 2-3 with two singles and a run scored.
As a result of her performance, Innamorato was named the A-Sun Player of the Week.
In addition, Verderese and Fournet were named members of the A-Sun All-Academic Team.
Senior pitcher Lexi Shubert from USC Upstate was not only named on the A-Sun All-Academic Team unanimously, but she was also named A-Sun Scholar Athlete of the Year.
So the brackets for the first two games are as followed:
No. 3 UNF will play No. 6 JU at 3 pm while No. 4 FGCU plays No. 5 Lipscomb at 6:30 pm.
Both UNF and JU have played each other in the season and it was UNF who came out on top in the series 2-1. Of course, they are crosstown rivals since they are both located in Jacksonville.
As noted, Lipscomb and FGCU played in the last games of their season with FGCU on top 2-1.
The winner between JU and UNF will face No. 2 Kennesaw and the loser will go into the loser's bracket.
The winner between FGCU and Lipscomb will face No. 1 Upstate.
The tournament will take place at Draper Diamond at Smith Stadium at Lipscomb in Nashville, Tennessee and will air on ESPN3.com
Here are a couple of softball slogans I read:
1. Teamwork makes the dream work
2. Softball is life with the volume turned up. How loud is your game? Crank it up.
3. The true champions believe in the impossible.
The winner of the tournament will claim an automatic bid into the national tournament and will represent the A-Sun.
Last year it was Upstate, but who will it be this year? Of course, I want FGCU to be the winners and anything is possible.
Aside from that, I wish all the teams good luck and may the best team in the A-Sun win.
The six teams in the seed order are the ones going to the tournament:
1. USC Upstate (41-11, 14-4)
2. Kennesaw State (35-16, 11-6)
3. UNF (30-25, 9-9)
4. FGCU (26-28, 8-9)
5. Lipscomb (35-18, 8-10)
6. Jacksonville (30-23, 8-10)
Stetson (26-21, 4-14) was eliminated by JU in the final series and was not eligible to play in the tournament not just because of their conference record, but also because there is an odd number of teams with softball in the A-Sun. NJIT does not have a softball team in their athletic programs and the newest member of the A-Sun, the University of Northern Alabama (UNA) will not appear until the 2018-19 school year.
Out of all the teams in the A-Sun by overall record, Upstate is the strong seed in the tournament while FGCU is somewhat the weakest, but that doesn't always mean anything because anything can change.
The scenario of the tournament goes like so:
1. Upstate and KSU have a first round bye.
2. Seeds 3-6 will play in opening rounds. UNF will face JU while FGCU faces Lipscomb.
3. The tournament is double elimination.
4. The winner of the tournament will claim an automatic bid for the national tournament.
In the last series of games, FGCU played Lipscomb in their final conference series at home.
In the first game, FGCU took the first one with a 3-2 win in extra innings. sophomore Riley Randolph was credited with the win after throwing nine innings while giving up two runs on four hits while walking one and striking out seven batters. Randolph went into a pitching dual with sophomore Mandy Jordan. Jordan was the leader in wins in the A-Sun conference (22).
The hero of the game was junior Brianne Innamorato. Innamorato went 4-5 in with a double and three singles, one of them being the one that drove in the game-winning run in the ninth inning.
Another big help was from junior LuLu Newmark. Newmark 1-3 and hit a solo home run that hit off the scoreboard.
In the second game, Lipscomb would get a revenge match and beat FGCU 10-2.
The rubber match was to decide who would claim the No. 4 seed in the tournament. If FGCU would have won the second game against Lipscomb, they would get a chance to become the No. 3 seed, but Upstate would need to sweep UNF to help. But since Lipscomb won, FGCU would have to fight for the No. 4 seed.
On the mound for the third game was senior Taylor Wade. Wade pitched in the second game, but was pulled out in the fifth.
Hope to redeem the last game, she would face Jordan again.
The first two innings went by fast. Going into the bottom of the third, things changed.
It started with a lead off walk to sophomore Morgan Sutherland. After a sacrifice bunt by junior Natalie Lopez, junior Kelsey Huff would walk and senior Jeanie Verderese would then single to left to load the bases for sophomore Racquel Fournet. Fournet would hit a single to right, bringing Sutherland. Innamorato would then hit a base-loaded two run double to right center that drove in Huff and Verderese.
Jordan would be pulled after 2.1 innings pitched and senior McCarley Thomas would pitch the rest of the game.
After a Newmark walk to once again load the bases, junior Brittany McGuire would drive Fournet home as the fourth and final run on a bases-loaded single before freshman Morgan White struck out and Sutherland grounded out to end the inning. FGCU batted around in the fourth inning.
Wade would finish the game on cruise control and FGCU would win 4-0 and claim the No. 4 seed.
Wade threw a complete game shutout while giving up seven hits and walking two batters.
Verderese was the only FGCU player that had a multi-hit game going 2-3 with two singles and a run scored.
As a result of her performance, Innamorato was named the A-Sun Player of the Week.
In addition, Verderese and Fournet were named members of the A-Sun All-Academic Team.
Senior pitcher Lexi Shubert from USC Upstate was not only named on the A-Sun All-Academic Team unanimously, but she was also named A-Sun Scholar Athlete of the Year.
So the brackets for the first two games are as followed:
No. 3 UNF will play No. 6 JU at 3 pm while No. 4 FGCU plays No. 5 Lipscomb at 6:30 pm.
Both UNF and JU have played each other in the season and it was UNF who came out on top in the series 2-1. Of course, they are crosstown rivals since they are both located in Jacksonville.
As noted, Lipscomb and FGCU played in the last games of their season with FGCU on top 2-1.
The winner between JU and UNF will face No. 2 Kennesaw and the loser will go into the loser's bracket.
The winner between FGCU and Lipscomb will face No. 1 Upstate.
The tournament will take place at Draper Diamond at Smith Stadium at Lipscomb in Nashville, Tennessee and will air on ESPN3.com
Here are a couple of softball slogans I read:
1. Teamwork makes the dream work
2. Softball is life with the volume turned up. How loud is your game? Crank it up.
3. The true champions believe in the impossible.
The winner of the tournament will claim an automatic bid into the national tournament and will represent the A-Sun.
Last year it was Upstate, but who will it be this year? Of course, I want FGCU to be the winners and anything is possible.
Aside from that, I wish all the teams good luck and may the best team in the A-Sun win.
FGCU Men's Tennis Opponent Revealed
The FGCU men's tennis has their next opponents revealed for the national tournament. After winning the A-SUN Conference tournament as the No. 4 seed by beating the No. 6 seed Lipscomb, FGCU (10-12, 3-3 A-SUN) automatically secured a spot in the tournament. It was with the help of A-SUN Freshman Player of the Year, All-Conference First Team, and All-Tournament Team member Felipe Ramirez that secured FGCU's automatic bid to the national tournament.
At last, the selection had started. During the selection show that was aired livestream, FGCU and some of the fans gathered at the Alico Arena to watch and see who they would play. Even former FGCU men's soccer player Santiago Ortiz and former men's tennis player Chris Perrigan were there.
As I was sitting with some of the players, I came to a realization on who I wanted to play. The team I was hoping we would play would be UCLA because the last time both teams met was in the first round of the 2015 national tennis tournament in which the Bruins came out on top 4-0 to advance to the second round before being eliminated by Oklahoma in the third round. I was hoping really hard that we would get them.
When UCLA's name was on the bracket, it was revealed that they would play Army, so our chance to play UCLA didn't happen this time. During the last eight teams being put together, FGCU had their opponent revealed: Florida. UF (17-9, 9-3 SEC) is ranked No. 15 in the nation.
Prior to the selection show, UF played in the SEC Conference Tournament and won against Ole Miss in the semifinals, but fell to Georgia in the finals. To no surprise, the Gators had an at-large bid to be in the tournament.
To scout the Gators, players to keep an eye out for are Johannes Ingildsen, McClain Kessler and Jordan Belga.
Ingildsen, a freshman from Copenhagen, Denmark, is 26-11 in overall singles with a 8-4 record in conference and is 24-8 overall in doubles with a 7-3 record in conference.
Kessler, a sophomore from Calhoun, Georgia, is 19-8 in singles and 8-6 in doubles. Kessler won the 2016 Coaches Award last year.
Belga, a junior from Boca Raton, Florida, is 16-9 in singles and 3-4 in doubles and was a SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll in 2015.
FGCU has never played UF and vice versa, so this marks as the first time both teams will be facing each other. The matchup will take place in Gainesville.
Aside from being the national tournament before in 2015, three of the players for FGCU have previous experience being in the national tournament prior to FGCU.
Junior Oliver Landert came from UF as a redshirt sophomore. Landert played for the Gators as a redshirt freshman and went 14-10 overall in singles and 11-12 in doubles before transferring to FGCU in the 2015-16 school year.
Landert, as a Gator, made it to the sweet sixteen before falling to Ohio State. So you could say this could be a "welcome" he may or may not expect, especially from his fformer teammates.
Sophomore Mateo Ruiz transferred this season from Oklahoma State University and had a record of only 1-2 for the Cowboys due to lack of playing time. Ruiz did go to the national and made it to the sweet sixteen before falling to then champion Virginia.
Lone senior Andy Alfonzo transferred from Texas Christian University (TCU) in the 2014-15 season and the former Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team member piled a 12-12 overall singles record and a 6-4 overall doubles record for the Horned Frogs. Alfonzo was named on the A-SUN All-Tournament team as well as being named the All-Tournament team MVP in this years conference tournament.
TCU and Oklahoma State were also set to be in the tournament. TCU, the No. 4 team in the nation and No. 6 seed in the tournament will play Jackson State while OK St, the No. 8 team in the nation and the No. 11 seed in the tournament, plays the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), a university I never even heard of in my life that comes from the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
The tournament starts May 12th and will end on May 23rd. If FGCU wins against UF, they would face the winner between Georgia Tech and Minnesota in the second round. Times for all the matches have not been set yet, so it is unknown what time all teams will play against each other, but all the brackets have been secured for the tournament.
At last, the selection had started. During the selection show that was aired livestream, FGCU and some of the fans gathered at the Alico Arena to watch and see who they would play. Even former FGCU men's soccer player Santiago Ortiz and former men's tennis player Chris Perrigan were there.
As I was sitting with some of the players, I came to a realization on who I wanted to play. The team I was hoping we would play would be UCLA because the last time both teams met was in the first round of the 2015 national tennis tournament in which the Bruins came out on top 4-0 to advance to the second round before being eliminated by Oklahoma in the third round. I was hoping really hard that we would get them.
When UCLA's name was on the bracket, it was revealed that they would play Army, so our chance to play UCLA didn't happen this time. During the last eight teams being put together, FGCU had their opponent revealed: Florida. UF (17-9, 9-3 SEC) is ranked No. 15 in the nation.
Prior to the selection show, UF played in the SEC Conference Tournament and won against Ole Miss in the semifinals, but fell to Georgia in the finals. To no surprise, the Gators had an at-large bid to be in the tournament.
Ingildsen, a freshman from Copenhagen, Denmark, is 26-11 in overall singles with a 8-4 record in conference and is 24-8 overall in doubles with a 7-3 record in conference.
Kessler, a sophomore from Calhoun, Georgia, is 19-8 in singles and 8-6 in doubles. Kessler won the 2016 Coaches Award last year.
Belga, a junior from Boca Raton, Florida, is 16-9 in singles and 3-4 in doubles and was a SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll in 2015.
FGCU has never played UF and vice versa, so this marks as the first time both teams will be facing each other. The matchup will take place in Gainesville.
Junior Oliver Landert came from UF as a redshirt sophomore. Landert played for the Gators as a redshirt freshman and went 14-10 overall in singles and 11-12 in doubles before transferring to FGCU in the 2015-16 school year.
Landert, as a Gator, made it to the sweet sixteen before falling to Ohio State. So you could say this could be a "welcome" he may or may not expect, especially from his fformer teammates.
Sophomore Mateo Ruiz transferred this season from Oklahoma State University and had a record of only 1-2 for the Cowboys due to lack of playing time. Ruiz did go to the national and made it to the sweet sixteen before falling to then champion Virginia.
Lone senior Andy Alfonzo transferred from Texas Christian University (TCU) in the 2014-15 season and the former Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team member piled a 12-12 overall singles record and a 6-4 overall doubles record for the Horned Frogs. Alfonzo was named on the A-SUN All-Tournament team as well as being named the All-Tournament team MVP in this years conference tournament.
TCU and Oklahoma State were also set to be in the tournament. TCU, the No. 4 team in the nation and No. 6 seed in the tournament will play Jackson State while OK St, the No. 8 team in the nation and the No. 11 seed in the tournament, plays the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), a university I never even heard of in my life that comes from the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
The tournament starts May 12th and will end on May 23rd. If FGCU wins against UF, they would face the winner between Georgia Tech and Minnesota in the second round. Times for all the matches have not been set yet, so it is unknown what time all teams will play against each other, but all the brackets have been secured for the tournament.
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