The FGCU baseball team (25-13, 7-3 A-SUN) cruised to a 12-1 victory over Jacksonville (21-17, 7-6 A-SUN) on Thursday night under the lights at Swanson Stadium. This marks the third-straight year that the Eagles have won the opening game in a series between the two teams.
"This was a great Thursday night win for us against a solid club," head coach Dave Tollett said. "We got a great start from Gill and we had two big innings on offense that really set the tone for us. This was a good way to start the series but we have to put it behind us and be ready to go early in the morning tomorrow."
The Dolphins got to work quickly in their opening frame, using a single and a pair of walks to load the bases. Senior Justin Gill (1-3), who started on the hill for the Green and Blue, worked himself out of the jam and eventually ended the frame with a groundout.
Junior Richie Garcia was the first to put the Eagles on the board when he doubled down the right field line in the bottom of the first. Senior Jay Hayes and junior Alex Brait came in on the play to give the Green and Blue an early 2-0 lead.
FGCU blew up its lead with a five-spot in the third frame. Senior Keith Stevens began the spree by drawing a bases-loaded walk that plated Brait. A fielder's choice one at-bat later sent Hayes home and junior Kohl Gilmore joined in on the spurt with a double that brought in senior Eric Gonzalez and Garcia. Freshman Joe Kinker wrapped up the scoring with an RBI single that scored Gilmore.
Gill kept the Dolphins off the board until the fourth inning, when they tagged up an unearned run to make the score 7-1.
The Eagles' bats got hot once again in the fifth inning as they used another five-spot to extend their lead. Kinker notched his second RBI of the night with a sac fly that pushed Stevens across and the long ball took over from there. Junior Anthony Gonnella launched a two-run shot to right center that brought Gilmore home and Brait added a two-run shot of his own that scored senior Marc Coffers. The homers put FGCU up 12-1. This was Brait's and Gonnella's third home runs of the season.
Gill was retired in the top of the sixth by junior Brenden Heiss after his second-longest outing of the season. The starter gave up just four hits, fanned three and was not charged with any earned runs through 5.1 frames of work. The Dolphins worked the bases loaded in that inning, but Heiss wrapped things up with a swinging strikeout.
Heiss tossed the next full inning and fanned four batters without giving up any hits. He handed over the mound to freshman Cody Woodring, who was tasked with recording the final six outs. Woodring notched first three collegiate strikeouts and faced the minimum number in the longest outing of his freshman campaign. Gill earned his first win of the season.
Tonight's offensive showing was well-balanced; it was the 11th game of the season that the team has finished with double-digit runs and the 19th with double-digit hits. Eight different Eagles recorded hits and seven finished the night with at least one RBI. FGCU tagged Jacksonville's starter with a season-high 11 runs. As a team, only five were left on base compared to the opponent's 11. Hayes led the defense with five assists.
Up Next:
The Eagles and the Dolphins will return to Swanson Stadium tomorrow at noon for the second game of the series. Game two was originally scheduled for 6:30 p.m., but got bumped up due to inclement weather. The finale is still slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday.
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