The FGCU baseball team (24-13, 6-3 A-SUN) will return to Swanson Stadium to host Jacksonville (21-16, 7-5 A-SUN) April 18-20 for an A-SUN Conference series. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. both Thursday and Friday and the teams will wrap up the weekend at 2 p.m. on Saturday. All three games will be streamed on YouTube Live and Saturday's game will have live play-by-play commentary. The series will be a battle of two of the best teams in the conference, as the Eagles sit at second and the Dolphins are tied for third in the standings.
FGCU:
The Green and Blue's 6-3 start in A-SUN play is the best record through the opening nine games since the 2015 season.
Senior Eric Gonzalez earned his first A-SUN Player of the Week (April 15) accolade for his offensive effort in FGCU's series win over Kennesaw State last weekend. The senior batted .455 with a pair of home runs and six RBIs.
FGCU leads the league in batting average (.284), hits (362), home runs (31), on-base percentage (.394), runs (268), scoring (7.2) and slugging percentage (.418).
Senior Jay Hayes leads the offense with a .356 batting average, 15 doubles, eight home runs, .476 on-base percentage, and a .652 slugging percentage. Hayes has been credited with a whopping 86 total bases, the highest of any A-SUN player so far.
Three of the top 10 batting averages in the A-SUN belong to FGCU players: Hayes (.357 – fourth), junior Alex Brait (.340 - sixth) and freshman Joe Kinker (.331 - ninth). The most any other team has in the top 10 is two.
The Eagles have been hit by pitches 73 times so far this season. In both the 2005 and 2006 seasons, FGCU batters were hit 85 times, which is currently the most in program history. Junior Mason Studstill is currently fifth in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings (4.18). He leads the conference with 72 Ks, which is 11 shy of registering on the FGCU single-season top 10 list.
Opponents are currently batting .239 off the FGCU pitching staff, which is the lowest in program history. The Eagles finished the 2013 season holding opponents to just .243, which is the current all-time record.
Last Time Out:
The team wrapped up its series against No. 22 Miami last night, falling 13-4 at Mark Light Field. The Hurricanes currently have an RPI of No. 20 and are nationally ranked in multiple polls after sweeping ACC foe Virginia last weekend.
Junior Sebastian Gruszecki (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill Regional HS) started his first game for the Green and Blue. He finished the night after his longest outing, 4.2 innings, and fanned a career-high five batters.
Junior Marc Coffers (Naples, FL/Barron Collier HS) led the offensive effort with two hits and a pair of RBIs.
Freshman Hunter Fornari (Daytona Beach, FL/Spruce Creek HS) entered the game as a pinch runner and scored his first run as an Eagle. He stayed in for the last few innings at third base.
Scouting The Dolphins:
Last season, Jacksonville competed in an NCAA Regional for the 15th time in program history. They entered the Gainesville Regional as the No. 2 seed after receiving an at-large bid. The No. 2 seed was the highest in program history and the bid was the first for the team since 2011.
Senior Angel Camacho was selected to the All-Tournament team at the Gainesville Regional. The infielder was also named to the A-SUN All-Conference First Team, A-SUN All-Academic Team and the A-SUN All-Tournament team. Camacho is currently batting .371, good for second in the league, and has cranked out a conference-high nine home runs.
Junior AJ Jones (5-2) and sophomore Trent Palmer (3-4) have each struck out 51 batters. Both have started nine games for the Dolphins. Palmer pitched a complete game in the 15-0 victory over Brown on March 9. He only had to throw 7.0 innings, as the game ended due to the 10-run rule.
Series History:
The first game of the weekend will mark the 37th meeting between the two teams. FGCU currently leads the series 20-16 and holds a 9-7 edge at Swanson Stadium. In both 2017 and 2018's regular-season meetings, the Eagles won on Friday night but dropped both Saturday and Sunday's games.
The Dolphins have not dropped a series to the Green and Blue since 2015. In 2017, Jacksonville earned the No. 1 seed in the A-SUN Championship but was swept by the Eagles in a doubleheader, who went on to claim the title.
This is my 800th blog post I've done so far
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