The FGCU baseball team (1-1) earned a 23-3 victory over Bethune-Cookman (1-1) to even the season-opening series Saturday afternoon at Swanson Stadium.
The Eagles erupted for 18 hits – five of which left the ballpark – and 20 RBIs against the Wildcats. The run total was the highest since April 28, 2007. The number of RBIs was the most since May 4, 2014, and the five dingers were the most in a single game since April 29, 2017.
"We definitely had a bad taste in our mouths after yesterday's loss. We didn't play well in all aspects of the game last night. We needed to come out and do something like this today," FGCU coach Dave Tollett said. "We're a good baseball club. We came out a little angry and got the job done for sure. We switched the lineup around a little bit trying to get a spark, and we were able to do that."
"I stayed loose and I wanted them to know it's a long season, and they need to stay loose too," said Bethune head coach Jonathan Hernandez after the contest. "Baseball can be a total high. And then it can be a total low. But I told the guys that's the best part about the game. We can lose the way we did today, and still come back and have a chance to win the series tomorrow."
Senior Jay Hayes went 4-for-5 with two home runs, seven RBIs and four runs scored. His number of hits, homers and runs scored all tied school records. He was joined in the record books by juniors Alex Brait and Cameron Krzeminski, who also both scored four times. Brait went 3-for-6 with two RBIs and a homer, and Krzeminski was 1-for-2 with a walk drawn and two hit-by-pitches.
Junior Marc Coffers had a stellar day at the plate, finishing 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a round-tripper. The final home run was hit by true freshman Joe Kinker, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Senior Keith Stevens and junior Kohl Gilmore also combined for four hits, three RBIs and two runs scored in the big win.
Junior Brenden Heiss took the ball and registered a no-decision after conceding three runs on two hits in 3.0 innings. Heiss was making his debut as a double transfer after spending his freshman year at Arkansas before transferring to NJCAA John A. Logan College.
Sophomore Tyler Shuck (1-0) earned the win after tossing 5.0 near-perfect frames. He gave up just one hit and struck out five, while issuing no walks.
Sophomore Gus Carter pitched a clean ninth to wrap up the victory. Carter made his debut after spending his freshman year at FSW.
Other players that made their debuts for FGCU include freshmen Nic Nolan (Niceville Senior High School) and Hunter Fornari (Spruce Creek High School). Nolan went 0-for-2 with a run and an RBI while Fornari drew a walk and played at shortstop.
The visitors finished with just three hits that were scattered between Chase DeBonis, Over Torres and Robert Hall. DeBonis, Josten Heron and Zach Spivey all scored for the Wildcats. BCU utilized six pitchers, with starter Carlos Lequerica (0-1) suffering the loss. He made his exit after allowing six runs on three hits in the first 1.2 innings.
FGCU got to work early with six runs in the second thanks in large part to Kinker and Hayes homers. The Eagles countered a three-spot from BCU with four more in the bottom half of the fourth. The Green and Blue then continued to build their lead with two runs in the fifth inning, three in the sixth frame, six in the seventh and two final runs in the eighth.
Up Next:
Sunday's rubber game will be contested at 1 p.m. Feb. 17 at Swanson Stadium. FGCU will then play host to Ohio State out of the Big Ten Conference at 5 p.m. Feb. 18 (Monday). The Buckeyes are off to a 2-0 start to the year with a pair of neutral-site wins over Seton Hall. The first 11 games of the season for the Eagles will be contested at Swanson Stadium.
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