The FGCU baseball team (24-12, 6-3 A-SUN) won the first game of today's doubleheader against Kennesaw State (17-20, 4-5 A-SUN) but dropped the second. The Eagles claimed a 6-4 win in game one to win the overall series before falling 4-0 in the second game at Stillwell Stadium.
"We're happy winning the series," head coach Dave Tollett said. "We played really well in game one and came from behind to win the series. Game two we didn't hit well but I feel like that was only the second game this year that we've had that problem. We know how tough it is to sweep but we wish we could've finished the weekend."
FGCU 6, KSU 4
In the first game of today's doubleheader, the Eagles struck first and took an early lead. Junior Kohl Gilmore led the second inning off with a double to right field and came around to score after an RBI single off the bat of freshman Joe Kinker.
Senior Eric Gonzalez tacked onto the lead in the top of the fourth when he launched his second home run in as many days. Kinker, who had reached on a throwing error by the Owls' third baseman, scored on the play. The homer put the Eagles up 3-0.
Senior Evan Lumbert started on the stripe for FGCU and kept Kennesaw State off the board until the fifth inning. The Owls, who had not recorded a hit until the fifth inning, used an RBI single of their own to cut the Eagles' lead down to 4-1.
KSU charged two more runs to Lumbert in the sixth frame to tie the game. Sophomore Gus Carter (2-0) came out of the Eagle bullpen to relieve Lumbert and the southpaw finished the frame allowing just one more of the starter's runners to score. That gave the home team a 4-3 edge.
The Eagles threw up a three-spot of their own in the top of the eighth to swing momentum back in their favor. Gonzalez got the scoring started with a single that pushed freshman pinch runner Jalen Townsend across. Junior Alex Brait made it 6-4 with a two-RBI single that plated Gonzalez and junior pinch hitter Cameron Krzeminski.
Junior Hunter McGarry pitched for the final six outs of the night. Since he kept the Owls from scoring in the two-run ballgame, he was awarded his sixth save of the season and is now in a three-way tie for the sixth-most by an Eagle pitcher in a single season. One of the pitchers in the tie is former Chicago Cub Casey Coleman (2006). Carter was awarded the win for being on the mound when FGCU took the lead for good.
With the win, the Eagles claimed their second A-SUN Conference series win of the season. The Green and Blue dropped the A-SUN opener at North Florida but swept Lipscomb at Swanson Stadium last weekend.
KSU 4, FGCU 0
The Green and Blue struggled offensively in the series finale. The team finished nine innings of play with just three hits. Junior Richie Garcia accounted for two of them and junior Marc Coffers tallied the third. The Eagles had a few good chances to score, but they couldn't push anyone across. The team finished the night leaving 11 on base.
One of the Owls cranked out a home run in the bottom of the third to give the team its initial lead. It was the first one that any player has hit off sophomore Tyler Shuck (6-1), who started for the Eagles.
Kennesaw State added to its advantage in the fourth frame with a bases-clearing double that scored three runs and awarded the team its final 4-0 margin of victory.
Sophomore Nikolas Bitner relieved Shuck in the fourth inning and tossed the next 4.1 frames. The starter finished the night tagged with his first loss of the season. Bitner let up just two hits and struck out four of the 19 batters that he faced.
Senior Justin Gill faced the last batter of the night and threw four pitches before the Owl popped up to senior Jay Hayes at third base.
The three hits tie for the lowest cranked out by FGCU in a game this season and the shutout was just the third so far.
Up Next:
The Eagles will cross Alligator Alley once again to take on the University of Miami Hurricanes at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16. This will be the third midweek game between the two teams, as they played once at Mark Light Field and once at Swanson Stadium last week. The Hurricanes claimed victories in both of those meetings.
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