"The game was decided in the first," head coach Dave Tollett said. "We made a couple of plays that they capitalized on and we weren't very sharp. They got the big hit, whereas we had them all last night. We needed one today. Gus Carter did an absolutely fabulous job, by far his best performance. Nikolas Bitner did a great job coming in and keeping the game close. We had a lot of chances and we left plenty of runners on, so we will have to do a better job. That being said, if you told me in August that we could come in and play one game for the conference championship, I would've taken it. So we're going to wipe our bruises away and be ready to go tomorrow."
The Flames' offense got to work early, tagging senior starter Justin Gill with three runs in the opening frame. Sophomore Gus Carter relieved Gill to start the second inning. Liberty used a sac fly to make it a 4-0 game, but a diving catch by freshman Jalen Townsend prevented any more scoring.
The initial 4-0 edge was the team's largest over the Eagles so far, as they never led by more than two during Thursday night's game.
Senior Keith Stevens was FGCU's first base runner of the night after reaching with an infield single to start the bottom of the second. Freshman Joe Kinker and junior Kohl Gilmore got on to load up the bases, but all three were stranded at the end of the frame.
After three scoreless innings, the Eagles got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Eric Gonzalez and Kinker cranked out back-to-back hits and were pushed across by Gilmore's single through the right side, trimming the lead down to 4-2.
While the Green and Blue offense tried to rally, Carter kept the visitors away from home plate. Coming into tonight's game, his longest outing was 1.2 innings and the most strikeouts he had recorded was three. After six innings of work, he was relieved at the start of the eighth by sophomore Nikolas Bitner. Carter finished his night with a career-high seven strikeouts and at one point retired nine straight Flames.
Bitner cruised through the final six outs of the night and struck out four but did not receive any run support. Liberty's closer Evan Brabrand stifled the Eagles' offense as sophomore Christian Proffitt cranked out the team's only hit over the last three innings.
This was FGCU's first loss in A-SUN Conference play at Swanson Stadium this season. The Eagles entered this series having swept Lipscomb, Jacksonville and North Alabama on their home field.
Up Next:
The teams will be back in action tomorrow at 1 p.m. for the series finale. The winner of the rubber match will determine the 2019 Regular Season Champion. The Eagles will be going for their fifth title, having taken home the trophy in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2014. Beginning at 12:30 p.m., head coach Dave Tollett will honor the six members of the class of 2019: Justin Gill, Eric Gonzalez, Kohl Gilmore, Jay Hayes, Evan Lumbert and Keith Stevens.
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