FGCU Baseball @ FIU Recap

The FGCU baseball team (16-8, 1-2 A-SUN) swept a midweek series against FIU (11-14, 2-4 C-USA) after claiming an 11-6 victory at the Panthers' baseball stadium Wednesday night.

"We had a great start from Trey Vickery," head coach Dave Tollett said. "He had a no-hitter through five innings and just did an outstanding job. I thought our offense did a great job tonight and our bats really came through for us. We need to be able to close games out as the season goes on and tonight we did that. All in all, it was a great two days."

The Eagles' offense got off to an early start and scored eight unanswered runs in the first six innings. Junior Richie Garcia, freshman Joe Kinker and senior Jay Hayes each scored one run for the Green and Blue in the first few frames. Junior Alex Brait came around twice for FGCU in the spree.

Senior Keith Stevens capped off the Eagles' unanswered push with an RBI double that scored junior Kohl Gilmore and Hayes, putting the Eagles up 8-0.

Junior Trey Vickery pitched the strongest game of his career as an Eagle so far. The southpaw started the game and pitched a career-high five innings, struck out a career-high six batters and gave up two hits. He faced just two over the minimum and did not allow any Panther baserunners until his final inning of work.

Sophomore Nikolas Bitner and junior Keegan Collett each made relief appearances for the Eagles. Bitner was charged with two earned runs and Collett was charged with one.

Freshman Cody Woodring made his first appearance as an Eagle when he was brought out from the bullpen in the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded and no outs. Woodring got out of the frame after a fielder's choice and a double play. He finished the day after allowing two runs that cut FGCU's lead to 10-5.

Juniors Sebastian Gruszecki and Hunter McGarry combined to toss the final two frames for the Green and Blue. McGarry allowed one run and ended the game with a strikeout.

Eight different Eagles finished with hits in tonight's well-balanced attack. Kinker and Stevens led the offense with three RBIs apiece. Gonzalez tacked on two and junior Elijah Eusebio and freshman Jalen Townsend added one each.

The last time the Eagles swept the Panthers in a series was in 2013. Tonight's win marks the Eagles' eighth time putting up double-digit runs this season.

Up Next:
The Eagles will return to Swanson Stadium to host Towson in a non-conference weekend series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 29. The teams will face off at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 30 before capping off the series with a noon game on Sunday, March 31. This will be the second-ever meeting between the two teams.