FGCU Baseball vs Towson Game One Recap

The FGCU baseball team (17-8, 1-2 A-SUN) claimed a 6-3 victory in the first of a three-game non-conference series against Towson (3-20, 0-3 CAA) Friday night at Swanson Stadium.

"It was a quality game all the way until the ninth inning from a pitching standpoint," head coach Dave Tollett said. "Studstill was outstanding and he was never in trouble, but we have to be able to close the door and not have to use our older guys when we're up by five. From an offensive end, I thought we played well and our outs were really hard outs. We had a lot of quality at-bats. We are right where we need to be offensively. I'm happy all the way around."

Junior Mason Studstill pitched a quality start for the Eagles en route to his fourth win of the season. He threw a career-high eight innings, struck out seven and allowed one run on just four hits.

For the third game in a row, FGCU was the first to get on the board. Junior Kohl Gilmore plated classmate Marc Coffers) with a sac fly to right field, giving the Eagles an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

The Tigers responded with an RBI single to knot things up at 1-1 in the top of the third, which they held onto until the fifth inning. Junior Richie Garcia gave FGCU the lead for good with his second home run of the season, which was a solo shot to left field. Senior Eric Gonzalez tacked on an insurance run for the Eagles after being brought in by junior Alex Brait's RBI single.

The Green and Blue used a three-spot in the sixth inning to solidify the lead over Towson. Freshman Joe Kinker, senior Keith Stevensand Garcia all scored in the Eagles' final spree.

Studstill cruised through his last few frames of work and struck out the side in his final inning. Sophomore Gus Carter and freshman Cody Woodring each faced two batters before handing the mound over to junior Sebastian Gruszecki.

Gruszecki took over the bump with the bases loaded and was tasked with recording the final two outs of the game. The Tigers used a late push to score two runs that were charged to Carter and Woodring before Gruszecki ended the game with a swinging strikeout to collect his first save of the season.

Garcia and Brait led the offense with two hits apiece and the duo combined for three RBIs. Freshman Jalen Townsend (right field), junior Cameron Krzeminski (left field), freshman Corey Clement (first base) and sophomore Christian Proffitt (shortstop) all made defensive appearances in the final inning of the night.

Up Next:
FGCU and Towson will be back at Swanson Stadium tomorrow at 2 p.m. for Charlotte County Day. All Charlotte County residents can get in to the game for free with an ID. Head coach Dave Tollett is a Punta Gorda native and a graduate of Charlotte High School. He coached the Tarpons for 10 years and was named FHSAA District 16 Coach of the Year six times. His teams made five appearances in the Florida High School Athletic Association State Playoffs and won one district championship.