The FGCU baseball team (29-14, 11-3 A-SUN) took game two against North Alabama (11-31, 5-11 A-SUN) with a 7-2 win Saturday afternoon at Swanson Stadium. The Green and Blue triumph marks the fourth series win in conference play.
"I thought it was a good, complete game all the way around," head coach Dave Tollett said. "We pitched a better game and were able to string together some timely hits. We were able to extend a few innings and (Richie) Garcia had a big hit for us. We played much better today than we did yesterday and we are looking forward to tomorrow."
Senior Keith Stevens handed the Eagles an early lead after he cranked out a two-RBI single in the bottom of the first. Juniors Marc Coffers and Alex Brait scored on the play.
Senior Justin Gill started on the hill for the Green and Blue and kept the Lions off the board until the third inning, when the visiting team used a sac fly to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
Freshman Joe Kinker pushed Stevens across with an RBI double one inning later to re-extend the team's edge to 3-1.
The Lions worked the tying run on in the following frame. After recording two outs, Gill was relieved by sophomore Nikolas Bitner. A fielding error brought in one of the starter's baserunners, but the run was unearned. Through 4.2 innings of work, the southpaw fanned four and was charged with just one run on as many hits.
Over the next four innings, the Eagles put up four unanswered runs. Senior Eric Gonzalez and Coffers were each credited with an RBI in the spree and junior Richie Garcia racked up two after his home run to left field that scored senior Jay Hayes.
Junior Sebastian Gruszecki and sophomore Gus Carter combined from the mound for the final nine outs. Gruszecki tossed 1.2 frames and did not let up any hits. Carter closed out the game, allowing one hit but fanning two Lions.
All but one of the Eagles' scoring plays were generated with two outs on the board. Hayes was able to extend two innings and was credited with a game-high two runs. Coffers, Brait, Garcia, Stevens and freshman Jalen Townsend tacked on one apiece. Townsend, who entered as a pinch runner, became the fourth Eagle to steal two bags in a single game.
Bitner was awarded the win for his scoreless relief work and improved to 3-2 on the season.
The victory marks the fourth time this season that the Eagles have won an A-SUN series. In 2017, a flagship year for the Green and Blue, the team also won four A-SUN weekend matchups. The last time FGCU won at least five conference series was 2014 when the team claimed seven weekend battles.
Up Next:
The teams will wrap up the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Eagles, who swept Lipscomb three weekends ago, will be looking to complete their second conference sweep of the season.
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