FGCU Baseball vs Quinnipiac Game One Recap

The FGCU baseball team (10-4) came out on top of a close 6-5 battle against Quinnipiac (3-5) Friday afternoon at Swanson Stadium.

"It's a Friday night win and we'll take it," head coach Dave Tollett said. "Their guy was really good, our starter was really good and that's a typical Friday night. It's usually a one-run ball game on Friday nights and we got some clutch hits. What I was really excited about is that when we got down we fought back and took the lead. That's something we have yet to do this season, so I was really happy to see that."

Junior Mason Studstill made the start for the Green and Blue and controlled the pace of the game through the first few innings of play. Up until the sixth inning, Studstill had only given up one hit.

Freshman Joe Kinker was the first to get on the board when he notched his second home run of the year with a ball that was smoked over the left center wall. Junior Alex Brait, who had reached on a single, scored on Kinker's shot, giving the home team a 2-0 advantage.

Quinnipiac first scored in the sixth inning with an RBI double by Kyle Maves. The Bobcats added on a pair of runs in the seventh from back-to-back sacrifice flies by Liam Scafariello and Brian Moskey that gave the visitors a 3-2 lead, their first of the game.

Sophomore Christian Proffitt responded in the bottom of the seventh with a sacrifice fly of his own that brought in freshman pinch runner Jalen Townsend and knotted things up at 3-3.

After seven innings of work, Studstill was relieved by junior Hunter McGarry. The starter finished the day with seven strikeouts and gave up just three walks, pitching a quality start and a no-decision. McGarry sat down the first three Quinnipiac batters that he faced.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Eagles' offense made its final push for the win. Senior Jay Hayes had an RBI single that scored junior pinch runner Cameron Krzeminski. Townsend snuck a ball through the gap in left center for an RBI single that brought in junior Richie Garcia. Hayes eventually came around to score on a junior Marc Coffers single.

The Bobcats tried to take advantage of their final chance at bat. Though they entered the ninth with a 6-3 deficit, they refused to go down without a fight. Scafariello and Ian Ostberg each had an RBI single for Quinnipiac that pulled their team within one. With the tying run on first, Proffitt and senior Eric Gonzalez ended the game with a fielder's choice putout.

McGarry finished the game with his first win of the season. Through just two innings of work, the right-hander helped contain Quinnipiac's offense and helped put his team in a position to secure the win. McGarry finished the day with two strikeouts and walked two.

Up Next:
The teams will return to Swanson Stadium at 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon for the second game of the series. The series finale is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday.