With a last chance on the line, the FGCU baseball played a crucial elimination game in the Chapel Hill Regional of the Chapel Hill Super Regional.
After falling 2-1 to Davidson, FGCU (43-19, 13-8 A-SUN) faced UNC (48-13, 23-7 ACC) to hopefully get a rematch Davidson.
The Tar Heels were also facing elimination after losing the first game 8-4 to Davidson, but recovered with a 8-1 rally win over Michigan.
Michigan was the first team eliminated from the regional.
FGCU decided to send senior right-hander Garrett Anderson (7-1, 3.43 ERA) to the mound while UNC sent freshman right-hander Tyler Baum (6-0, 2.65 ERA)
In the end, UNC would defeat FGCU 10-1 and eliminate the Eagles, leaving FGCU with an overall record of 43-20.
Davidson would end up winning the Chapel Hill Regional and beat UNC.
It was a tough one for FGCU, but look at what they've done this year:
1. They won the A-SUN Tournament for the first time in program history
2. They made it to the regionals of the national tournament for the first time in program history
3. They were name the #9 team in the national before the start of conference
4. Two 10 game winning streaks in the season (second most in program history)
5. Won nine A-Sun accolades and honors
6. Beat then No. 1 FSU, swept No. 2 Florida and beat Miami
7. Redshirt senior Nick Rivera won A-Sun Player of the Year and set the FGCU and A-Sun record for most home runs overall (45)
Four seniors are finished for FGCU: Corey Fehribach, Nick Rivera, Sterling Koerner and Garrett Anderson.
The ones I'm not certain if they will be playing as redshirt seniors next season are pitchers Kenton Hering, Mario Leon, Parker Hamilton and outfielder Matt Reardon.
Whatever the case may be and how the team looks next season, this season was by far, one of FGCU's best years in baseball program history.
As I noted earlier, when all sports at FGCU are finished for the year, the blog will go on a hiatus for the rest of the summer and will restart in the fall 2017 when volleyball, soccer, swimming and basketball start and take a hiatus during winter break even though basketball and swimming will take place during winter break.
Thank you for taking time on your schedule to read my blogs and I will return on August 21st, 2017 with the start of Eagle Revolution, one of the biggest athletic events at FGCU in the fall semester.
Until then, go Eagles.
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Showing posts with label FGCU Baseball 2017. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FGCU Baseball 2017. Show all posts
FGCU Baseball: Opening Regional Game
With regionals around the nation occurring, FGCU start their opportunity in the Chapel Hill Regional at UNC against Michigan.
The regional is double elimination like any tournament would be.
FGCU made it to the NCAA regionals after clinching an automatic bid by beating JU in two championship games to do so. As a result, FGCU was selected to compete in the Chapel Hill Regional of the Chapel Hill Super Regional.
Michigan, on the other hand, entered differently. After being eliminated from the made it to the regionals on an at-large bid thanks to their RPI.
Michigan will send junior Oliver Jaskie to pitch while FGCU sent junior Kutter Crawford.
In the first inning, Crawford was off to a shaky start giving up two runs.
After sophomore All-Big Ten First Team member Ako Thomas reached base on catcher's interference and stole second, Crawford struck out senior Johnny Slater, senior Michael Brdar reached on a fielder's choice. Junior All-Big Ten First Team member Drew Lugbauer struck out, but the Wolverines struck the first run. Redshirt sophomore Miles Lewis hit an RBI single for the first run. After junior Jake Bivens walked, sophomore Nick Poirier drove the second run in on a bases loaded walk before sophomore Jonathan Engelmann struck out to end the top half of the first inning.
The Eagles would strike their first run of the game.
After A-Sun First Team All-Conference member, A-Sun All-Freshman Team member and A-Sun Freshman of the Year Richie Garcia grounded out, fellow A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers started with a single. After junior Matt Reardon walked, junior Eli Lovell move Coffers to third base on a fly out for sophomore Jake Smith. Smith would hit an RBI single and drive in Coffers for the first run of not just the game for FGCU, but for their first run in the regionals. Junior Spencer Levine flew out to end the inning.
At the top of the second, Crawford struggled again. After striking out senior Harrison Wenson and forcing Thomas to groundout, Slater would hit a solo home run to make it 3-1 for Michigan before Brdar lined out.
The home run was Slater's fifth of the year.
Michigan's bats were a little quiet after Crawford's strong third and fourth inning.
Soon, FGCU would strike again in the fourth.
After Coffers struck out and Reardon flew out, Lovell and Smith hit back-to-back singles, Levine would single to left and drive in Lovell for the second run of the game before junior A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez struck out to end the inning.
At the top of the fifth inning was seemingly the end of Crawford. After walking Slater, getting Brdar to pop out and slater stealing second, Lugbauer hit a single that drove in Slater for Michigan's fourth run of the game.
After giving up one more single to Lewis, head coach Dave Tollett pulled Crawford as a signal that Crawford was done. Tollett put redshirt junior Mario Leon to hopefully finish the inning. Leon managed to strike out Bivens and Poirier to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, with the score 4-2 in favor of Michigan, FGCU would strike again to reduce Michigan's lead.
After Morey struck out, it left a big opening for the redshirt senior A-Sun First Team All-Conference member and A-Sun Player of the Year Nick Rivera. Rivera was 0-2 in the first at-bats against Jaskie, but that suddenly changed. On a full count, Rivera would hit a solo home run to left to make it 4-3.
The home run was Rivera's 18th of the year and 44th of his career.
After Garcia was hit by a pitch, Coffers would end the inning grounding out into a double play.
Michigan would strike again at the top of the sixth.
After getting both Engelmann and Wenson to fly out, Thomas hit a single off of Leon. After Slater walked. Brdar would hit a double and drive in Thomas for Michigan's fifth run of the game. Lugbauer would groundout to end the top half of the inning.
FGCU's bats were not done yet. They would take the game to a whole other level.
After Reardon and Lovel grounded out, Smith started with a two out triple. Levine would then send Smith home with an RBI single for FGCU's fourth run. After Jaskie gave up another single to Gonzalez, Morey would hit another RBI single and send Levine home to tie the game 5-5, signaling the end for Jaskie after 5.2 innings.
Michigan head coach, Erik Bakich, would send senior Mac Lozer to the mound and pitch to Rivera, which was a big mistake.
After Gonzalez and Morey advance to second and third base on a wild pitch, Rivera, on a 1-1 count, hit his second home run, a three run shot to left center, that literally hit the scoreboard to give FGCU an 8-5 lead and the boost they long needed before Garcia lined out to end the inning.
Rivera's home run was his second of the game and 45th of his career.
At the top of the seventh, Leon struggled again.
After getting Lewis struck out and Bivens flew out, Poirier and Engelmann would back-to-backs singles before Wenson drove in Poirier for Michigan's sixth run of the game to make it 8-6.
Tollet would pull Leon and send redshirt junior Kenton Hering to hopefully end the inning. Hering has had his fair share of getting out of jams in relief. In the A-Sun Conference, Hering pitched in four of the six games FGCU played, including pitching a save in two scoreless innings of the first championship game. Because of that, Hering was named on the A-Sun All-Tournament Team. Hering would get Thomas to ground out to end the top of the inning.
Bakich would send junior Alec Rennard in bottom of the seventh to pitch for Lozer and he would throw a 1-2-3 scoreless inning to FGCU to end the seventh.
At the top of the eighth, Hering looked like he was in a jam.
After Slater reached on a fielding error by Rivera, Slater would be out at second after Brdar grounded into a fielder's choice. Lugbauer would groundout to first, advancing Brdar to second. Lewis was a hoping grace for the Wolverines, hoping to cut the lead to one run. Hering seized the opportunity and struck out Lewis to end top half of the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, FGCU needed some good insurance runs to give them a bigger lead.
After Smith grounded out, Levine would start with a one out single. After Gonzalez flew out, Morey would single to left setting up another scoring opportunity for Rivera, but Michigan, after learning from their previous mistakes, did not want that to happen again and decided to intentionally walk Rivera and load the bases for Garcia. Garcia was 0-3 going into the eighth and bounced back driving Levine and Morey on a bases loaded two run single for the insurance runs they asked for to make it 10-6. After Coffers walked to load the bases again for another scoring opportunity, Reardon would fly out to end the eighth inning.
The top of the ninth was Michigan's last chance.
Before Hering pitched in the ninth, Tollett made a couple of changes and freshman Cameron Krzeminski would enter the game in left field for Lovell.
Bivens would start with a lead-off single. Bivens was called out after Poirier grounded into a fielder's choice. Hoping to change things for Michigan, Bakich had freshman Dominic Clementi pinch hit for Engelmann. Clementi was unable to get on base and struck out. Wenson would then single and put Hering in a jam. It was now up to Thomas to try and drive in at least one run, but Hering would not allow it. Thomas would ground out and FGCU would win the game 10-6.
Crawford would end up with a no decision after throwing 4.1 innings. He gave up four runs (two earned) on four hits, walked four batters and struck out eight.
Leon (5-2) would be credited with the win after throwing 2.1 innings. Leon gave up two runs on five hits, walked one batter and struck out three.
Hering was credited with his seventh save of the year after throwing 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out two batters.
Eight of FGCU's batters had at least one hit, four of them had two hits or more.
Morey was 2-4 with a walk, one RBI and two runs scored.
Garcia was 1-4 with the lone hit that brought in the two insurance runs.
Smith was 3-4 with two singles, a triple, one RBI and one run scored.
Levine was 3-4 with two RBIs and two run scored.
Gonzalez, Coffers and Lovell had one hit apiece.
Rivera was 2-4 with the two home runs being his two hits. Rivera had two runs, four RBIs and was intentionally walked once. The two home runs were his 18th and 19th of the year, 44th and 45th in his career and his eighth multi home run game of his career.
With the win, FGCU is 43-18 overall.
Jaskie (8-3) was credited with the loss after surrendering seven runs on 10 hits while walking two batters and striking out six in 5.2 innings.
With the loss, Michigan falls to 42-16 overall and will be sent to the losers bracket while FGCU awaits the winner between The No.1 seed, No. 2 UNC, and No. 4 seed Davidson. FGCU will play the winner of the two teams on Saturday at 6 pm and will air on ESPN 3.
FGCU (42-18, 13-8 A-Sun) is currently the No. 2 seed in the regional and will play Michigan (42-15, 16-8 Big Ten), who is the No. 3 seed.
The regional is double elimination like any tournament would be.
FGCU made it to the NCAA regionals after clinching an automatic bid by beating JU in two championship games to do so. As a result, FGCU was selected to compete in the Chapel Hill Regional of the Chapel Hill Super Regional.
Michigan, on the other hand, entered differently. After being eliminated from the made it to the regionals on an at-large bid thanks to their RPI.
Michigan will send junior Oliver Jaskie to pitch while FGCU sent junior Kutter Crawford.
In the first inning, Crawford was off to a shaky start giving up two runs.
After sophomore All-Big Ten First Team member Ako Thomas reached base on catcher's interference and stole second, Crawford struck out senior Johnny Slater, senior Michael Brdar reached on a fielder's choice. Junior All-Big Ten First Team member Drew Lugbauer struck out, but the Wolverines struck the first run. Redshirt sophomore Miles Lewis hit an RBI single for the first run. After junior Jake Bivens walked, sophomore Nick Poirier drove the second run in on a bases loaded walk before sophomore Jonathan Engelmann struck out to end the top half of the first inning.
The Eagles would strike their first run of the game.
After A-Sun First Team All-Conference member, A-Sun All-Freshman Team member and A-Sun Freshman of the Year Richie Garcia grounded out, fellow A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers started with a single. After junior Matt Reardon walked, junior Eli Lovell move Coffers to third base on a fly out for sophomore Jake Smith. Smith would hit an RBI single and drive in Coffers for the first run of not just the game for FGCU, but for their first run in the regionals. Junior Spencer Levine flew out to end the inning.
At the top of the second, Crawford struggled again. After striking out senior Harrison Wenson and forcing Thomas to groundout, Slater would hit a solo home run to make it 3-1 for Michigan before Brdar lined out.
The home run was Slater's fifth of the year.
Michigan's bats were a little quiet after Crawford's strong third and fourth inning.
Soon, FGCU would strike again in the fourth.
After Coffers struck out and Reardon flew out, Lovell and Smith hit back-to-back singles, Levine would single to left and drive in Lovell for the second run of the game before junior A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez struck out to end the inning.
At the top of the fifth inning was seemingly the end of Crawford. After walking Slater, getting Brdar to pop out and slater stealing second, Lugbauer hit a single that drove in Slater for Michigan's fourth run of the game.
After giving up one more single to Lewis, head coach Dave Tollett pulled Crawford as a signal that Crawford was done. Tollett put redshirt junior Mario Leon to hopefully finish the inning. Leon managed to strike out Bivens and Poirier to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, with the score 4-2 in favor of Michigan, FGCU would strike again to reduce Michigan's lead.
After Morey struck out, it left a big opening for the redshirt senior A-Sun First Team All-Conference member and A-Sun Player of the Year Nick Rivera. Rivera was 0-2 in the first at-bats against Jaskie, but that suddenly changed. On a full count, Rivera would hit a solo home run to left to make it 4-3.
The home run was Rivera's 18th of the year and 44th of his career.
After Garcia was hit by a pitch, Coffers would end the inning grounding out into a double play.
Michigan would strike again at the top of the sixth.
After getting both Engelmann and Wenson to fly out, Thomas hit a single off of Leon. After Slater walked. Brdar would hit a double and drive in Thomas for Michigan's fifth run of the game. Lugbauer would groundout to end the top half of the inning.
FGCU's bats were not done yet. They would take the game to a whole other level.
After Reardon and Lovel grounded out, Smith started with a two out triple. Levine would then send Smith home with an RBI single for FGCU's fourth run. After Jaskie gave up another single to Gonzalez, Morey would hit another RBI single and send Levine home to tie the game 5-5, signaling the end for Jaskie after 5.2 innings.
Michigan head coach, Erik Bakich, would send senior Mac Lozer to the mound and pitch to Rivera, which was a big mistake.
After Gonzalez and Morey advance to second and third base on a wild pitch, Rivera, on a 1-1 count, hit his second home run, a three run shot to left center, that literally hit the scoreboard to give FGCU an 8-5 lead and the boost they long needed before Garcia lined out to end the inning.
Rivera's home run was his second of the game and 45th of his career.
At the top of the seventh, Leon struggled again.
After getting Lewis struck out and Bivens flew out, Poirier and Engelmann would back-to-backs singles before Wenson drove in Poirier for Michigan's sixth run of the game to make it 8-6.
Tollet would pull Leon and send redshirt junior Kenton Hering to hopefully end the inning. Hering has had his fair share of getting out of jams in relief. In the A-Sun Conference, Hering pitched in four of the six games FGCU played, including pitching a save in two scoreless innings of the first championship game. Because of that, Hering was named on the A-Sun All-Tournament Team. Hering would get Thomas to ground out to end the top of the inning.
Bakich would send junior Alec Rennard in bottom of the seventh to pitch for Lozer and he would throw a 1-2-3 scoreless inning to FGCU to end the seventh.
At the top of the eighth, Hering looked like he was in a jam.
After Slater reached on a fielding error by Rivera, Slater would be out at second after Brdar grounded into a fielder's choice. Lugbauer would groundout to first, advancing Brdar to second. Lewis was a hoping grace for the Wolverines, hoping to cut the lead to one run. Hering seized the opportunity and struck out Lewis to end top half of the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, FGCU needed some good insurance runs to give them a bigger lead.
After Smith grounded out, Levine would start with a one out single. After Gonzalez flew out, Morey would single to left setting up another scoring opportunity for Rivera, but Michigan, after learning from their previous mistakes, did not want that to happen again and decided to intentionally walk Rivera and load the bases for Garcia. Garcia was 0-3 going into the eighth and bounced back driving Levine and Morey on a bases loaded two run single for the insurance runs they asked for to make it 10-6. After Coffers walked to load the bases again for another scoring opportunity, Reardon would fly out to end the eighth inning.
The top of the ninth was Michigan's last chance.
Before Hering pitched in the ninth, Tollett made a couple of changes and freshman Cameron Krzeminski would enter the game in left field for Lovell.
Bivens would start with a lead-off single. Bivens was called out after Poirier grounded into a fielder's choice. Hoping to change things for Michigan, Bakich had freshman Dominic Clementi pinch hit for Engelmann. Clementi was unable to get on base and struck out. Wenson would then single and put Hering in a jam. It was now up to Thomas to try and drive in at least one run, but Hering would not allow it. Thomas would ground out and FGCU would win the game 10-6.
Crawford would end up with a no decision after throwing 4.1 innings. He gave up four runs (two earned) on four hits, walked four batters and struck out eight.
Leon (5-2) would be credited with the win after throwing 2.1 innings. Leon gave up two runs on five hits, walked one batter and struck out three.
Hering was credited with his seventh save of the year after throwing 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out two batters.
Eight of FGCU's batters had at least one hit, four of them had two hits or more.
Morey was 2-4 with a walk, one RBI and two runs scored.
Garcia was 1-4 with the lone hit that brought in the two insurance runs.
Smith was 3-4 with two singles, a triple, one RBI and one run scored.
Levine was 3-4 with two RBIs and two run scored.
Gonzalez, Coffers and Lovell had one hit apiece.
Rivera was 2-4 with the two home runs being his two hits. Rivera had two runs, four RBIs and was intentionally walked once. The two home runs were his 18th and 19th of the year, 44th and 45th in his career and his eighth multi home run game of his career.
With the win, FGCU is 43-18 overall.
Jaskie (8-3) was credited with the loss after surrendering seven runs on 10 hits while walking two batters and striking out six in 5.2 innings.
With the loss, Michigan falls to 42-16 overall and will be sent to the losers bracket while FGCU awaits the winner between The No.1 seed, No. 2 UNC, and No. 4 seed Davidson. FGCU will play the winner of the two teams on Saturday at 6 pm and will air on ESPN 3.
FGCU Baseball: Research on Chapel Hill Regional Opponents
I did my research on the three teams from the Chapel Hill Regional that FGCU is in.
UNC is the No. 2 team in the nation and in the ACC Conference Tournament, UNC beat Boston College 10-0, in state rival, NC State 12-4 and Miami 12-4 before falling to FSU 3-7 in the championship game. Despite the loss, UNC had an at-large bid and a high RPI ranking, deeming themselves eligible for the top eight seed and No. 1 seed in the Chapel Hill Regional.
Award wise, UNC earned nine awards in the ACC (one Freshman of the Year, one Pitcher of the Year, four First Team All-ACC Baseball honors, one Third Team All-ACC Baseball honors and two ACC All-Freshman Team honors).
Individually, players to keep an eye on batting and base-running wise are juniors Logan Warmoth and Brian Miller and freshman Ashton McGee.
Warmoth leads the team in batting average (.349) hits (89), home runs (9), total bases (145). Warmoth is second in stolen bases behind Miller (18) and is tied for ninth in the nation in hits. The Orlando was also named one of four players on the All-ACC Baseball First Team and one of five players to represent UNC on the ACC All-Tournament Team.
Miller is more the speedster on the team and currently leads the team in stolen bases (22) and is tied for 32nd in the nation in most stolen bases with nine others. The Raleigh Native was also named to the All-ACC Baseball First Team and ACC All-Tournament Team. Miller is batting .340, second behind Warmoth, with seven home runs and 47 RBIs.
McGee is batting .340 with seven home runs and 44 RBIs. McGee's batting average is tied with Miller. The Pikeville, North Carolina native was named ACC Freshman of the Year, the ACC All-Freshman Team and the ACC All-Tournament Team.
Pitching wise, junior J.B. Bukauskas is a force to recon with. The Ashburn, Virginia native is 9-0 (tied 20th in the nation) and currently throwing a 2.02 ERA (tied 29th in the nation) and in 89 innings, he has given up 28 runs on 56 hits, walked 33 batters and struck out 111 batters (19th in the nation). Bukauskas was named the ACC Pitcher of the Year.
Davidson was the No. 6 seed in their conference. They beat No. 3 seeded St. Bonaventure 5-2 and No. 7 seeded George Mason 6-3 before falling 3-7 to No. 1 seeded VCU and was sent the losers bracket.
Hoping to recover, the Wildcats beat No. 5 seeded Saint Louis to make it to the championship game and face VCU in a tournament rematch. They would beat VCU 8-4 in the first game and 11-4 in the second game to claim the A-10 Conference championship.
Players to keep an eye on batting and base-running wise for Davidson are seniors Will Robertson and Brian Fortier.
Robertson leads the team in batting (.335) with 79 hits, 18 home runs (tied 15th in the nation) and 49 RBIs. The Greenville, South Carolina native was named on the A-10 All-Conference First Team, A-10 All-Academic Team and A-10 All-Tournament Team.
Fortier, a native of Holly Springs, North Carolina, batted .318 with 15 home runs and a team-leading 53 RBIs. Fortier was named on the A-10 All-Conference Second Team.
Pitching wise, senior Durin O'Linger is their best pitcher. O'Linger is 8-3 with a 2.85 ERA. In 101 innings, the Tampa, Florida native has given up 42 runs on 106 hits with 27 walks and 86 strikeouts.
Awards wise, Davidson had four players with baseball awards: Robertson was named to the A-10 All-Conference First Team, Fortier was on the A-10 All-Conference Second Team and along with the First Team honors, Robertson was named on the A-10 All-Academic Team along with O'Linger.
Michigan was the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Conference Tournament and the No. 16 team in the nation, but were one of the first two teams eliminated after losing to No. 7 seeded Northwestern and No. 6 seeded Indiana. They, however, received an at-large bid because of their RPI ranking (37).
Award wise, eight players from Michigan earned awards (5 Big Ten First Team, two Big Ten Third Team and one Big Ten All-Freshman Team).
Players to look out for the Wolverines batting wise are juniors Drew Lugbauer and Jake Bivens, sophomore Ako Thomas and senior Michael Brdar.
Lubauer, a native of Pleasant Valley, New York, lead the team in home runs (11) and RBIs (58). Lubauer was named to the All-Big Ten First Team.
Bivens, a Battle Creek, Michigan native, leads the team with 24 stolen base (tied 19th in the nation).
Thomas, a Chicago native, leads the team in batting average (.368) and second in stolen bases (21). Thomas was also named to the All-Big Ten First Team.
A native of Pleasanton, California, Brdar is batting .318 and leads the team in hits (74). Brdar was also named to the All-Big Ten First Team with Lubauer and Thomas.
Pitching wise, junior Oliver Jaskie is their best pitcher. A native of Ada, Michigan, Jaskie is 8-2 with a 3.30 ERA. In 87 innings, Jaskie has gave up 38 runs on 73 hits, walked 29 batters and struck out 113 (tied for 16th in the nation). Jaskie was also named on the All-Big Ten First Team.
FGCU and Michigan will start at 1 pm and the game between No. 2 UNC and Davidson will follow at 6 pm.
The winner of the Chapel Hill Regional will go to the Chapel Hill Super Regional and face the winner of the Houston Regional. The game will air on ESPN 3.
UNC is the No. 2 team in the nation and in the ACC Conference Tournament, UNC beat Boston College 10-0, in state rival, NC State 12-4 and Miami 12-4 before falling to FSU 3-7 in the championship game. Despite the loss, UNC had an at-large bid and a high RPI ranking, deeming themselves eligible for the top eight seed and No. 1 seed in the Chapel Hill Regional.
Award wise, UNC earned nine awards in the ACC (one Freshman of the Year, one Pitcher of the Year, four First Team All-ACC Baseball honors, one Third Team All-ACC Baseball honors and two ACC All-Freshman Team honors).
Individually, players to keep an eye on batting and base-running wise are juniors Logan Warmoth and Brian Miller and freshman Ashton McGee.
Warmoth leads the team in batting average (.349) hits (89), home runs (9), total bases (145). Warmoth is second in stolen bases behind Miller (18) and is tied for ninth in the nation in hits. The Orlando was also named one of four players on the All-ACC Baseball First Team and one of five players to represent UNC on the ACC All-Tournament Team.
Miller is more the speedster on the team and currently leads the team in stolen bases (22) and is tied for 32nd in the nation in most stolen bases with nine others. The Raleigh Native was also named to the All-ACC Baseball First Team and ACC All-Tournament Team. Miller is batting .340, second behind Warmoth, with seven home runs and 47 RBIs.
McGee is batting .340 with seven home runs and 44 RBIs. McGee's batting average is tied with Miller. The Pikeville, North Carolina native was named ACC Freshman of the Year, the ACC All-Freshman Team and the ACC All-Tournament Team.
Pitching wise, junior J.B. Bukauskas is a force to recon with. The Ashburn, Virginia native is 9-0 (tied 20th in the nation) and currently throwing a 2.02 ERA (tied 29th in the nation) and in 89 innings, he has given up 28 runs on 56 hits, walked 33 batters and struck out 111 batters (19th in the nation). Bukauskas was named the ACC Pitcher of the Year.
Davidson was the No. 6 seed in their conference. They beat No. 3 seeded St. Bonaventure 5-2 and No. 7 seeded George Mason 6-3 before falling 3-7 to No. 1 seeded VCU and was sent the losers bracket.
Hoping to recover, the Wildcats beat No. 5 seeded Saint Louis to make it to the championship game and face VCU in a tournament rematch. They would beat VCU 8-4 in the first game and 11-4 in the second game to claim the A-10 Conference championship.
Players to keep an eye on batting and base-running wise for Davidson are seniors Will Robertson and Brian Fortier.
Robertson leads the team in batting (.335) with 79 hits, 18 home runs (tied 15th in the nation) and 49 RBIs. The Greenville, South Carolina native was named on the A-10 All-Conference First Team, A-10 All-Academic Team and A-10 All-Tournament Team.
Fortier, a native of Holly Springs, North Carolina, batted .318 with 15 home runs and a team-leading 53 RBIs. Fortier was named on the A-10 All-Conference Second Team.
Pitching wise, senior Durin O'Linger is their best pitcher. O'Linger is 8-3 with a 2.85 ERA. In 101 innings, the Tampa, Florida native has given up 42 runs on 106 hits with 27 walks and 86 strikeouts.
Awards wise, Davidson had four players with baseball awards: Robertson was named to the A-10 All-Conference First Team, Fortier was on the A-10 All-Conference Second Team and along with the First Team honors, Robertson was named on the A-10 All-Academic Team along with O'Linger.
Michigan was the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Conference Tournament and the No. 16 team in the nation, but were one of the first two teams eliminated after losing to No. 7 seeded Northwestern and No. 6 seeded Indiana. They, however, received an at-large bid because of their RPI ranking (37).
Award wise, eight players from Michigan earned awards (5 Big Ten First Team, two Big Ten Third Team and one Big Ten All-Freshman Team).
Players to look out for the Wolverines batting wise are juniors Drew Lugbauer and Jake Bivens, sophomore Ako Thomas and senior Michael Brdar.
Lubauer, a native of Pleasant Valley, New York, lead the team in home runs (11) and RBIs (58). Lubauer was named to the All-Big Ten First Team.
Bivens, a Battle Creek, Michigan native, leads the team with 24 stolen base (tied 19th in the nation).
Thomas, a Chicago native, leads the team in batting average (.368) and second in stolen bases (21). Thomas was also named to the All-Big Ten First Team.
A native of Pleasanton, California, Brdar is batting .318 and leads the team in hits (74). Brdar was also named to the All-Big Ten First Team with Lubauer and Thomas.
Pitching wise, junior Oliver Jaskie is their best pitcher. A native of Ada, Michigan, Jaskie is 8-2 with a 3.30 ERA. In 87 innings, Jaskie has gave up 38 runs on 73 hits, walked 29 batters and struck out 113 (tied for 16th in the nation). Jaskie was also named on the All-Big Ten First Team.
FGCU and Michigan will start at 1 pm and the game between No. 2 UNC and Davidson will follow at 6 pm.
The winner of the Chapel Hill Regional will go to the Chapel Hill Super Regional and face the winner of the Houston Regional. The game will air on ESPN 3.
FGCU Baseball: Selection, Region and First Team is Chosen
The selection show for the NCAA College Baseball Tournament has just been finalized for FGCU.
FGCU (42-18, 11-3 A-Sun) was selected in the Chapel Hill Regional of the Chapel Hill Super Regional in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. UNC will be hosting the regional since it is at Chapel Hill.
The four teams have been finalized in the regional and FGCU will face the University of Michigan (42-15, 16-8 Big Ten).
Joining FGCU and Michigan in the regional will be Davidson College (32-24, 13-11 A-10) and No. 2 UNC (47-12, 22-7 ACC).
The seed are listed as followed:
1. No. 2 UNC
2. FGCU
3. Michigan
4. Davidson
The Chapel Hill Regional will go against the Houston Regional in Houston, Texas. Four teams will be playing there in order:
1.Houston (40-19, 15-9 AAC)
2. Baylor (34-21, 12-12 Big 12)
3. Texas A&M (36-21, 16-14 SEC)
4. Iowa (38-20, 15-9 Big Ten)
Houston will be the host of the Houston Regional.
FGCU won the A-SUN Conference Tournament Championship and claimed an automatic bid this past Saturday after beating JU twice in the championship (4-2 in game 1 and 4-3 (10) in game 2).
It was the help of a variety of players from FGCU that help them win and the players to look for are A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera, A-SUN Freshman of the Year, Richie Garcia, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers, Kenton Hering, Sterling Koerner and A-SUN First Team All-Conference members, Julio Gonzalez and Kutter Crawford.
Rivera, a redshirt senior and the powerhouse of the team, currently lead the team and the A-SUN in home runs (17). His 17 home runs also helped him claim the record for most home runs overall in the A-SUN with 43. Rivera was also a A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN All-Tournament Team member. In the nation, Rivera is fourth in the nation in walks (57), eighth in the nation in walks per game (.95) and 22nd in the nation with 17 home runs.
Garcia, a freshman, is mainly known for his contact swing and popular walk-up song. To go with the A-SUN Freshman of the Year title, Garcia was also a member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team.
Coffers, also a freshman, was named to the A-SUN All-Freshman and A-SUN All-Tournament Team. Coffers also was named A-SUN All-Tournament Team MVP after batting .500 throughout the whole tournament. He had 10 hits, one home run, five RBI and five runs scored.
Hering, a redshirt junior and transfer from Eastern Florida State College, was the set up man for relief pitching. The Melbourne, Florida native went 2-0 with two saves and pitched in four of the six games throughout the whole tournament that were crucial including against Kennesaw State and the first game against JU. Hering (7-3-6, 2.04 ERA) was also named to the A-SUN All-Tournament Team.
Despite struggling in the series against JU in the season, Koerner is normally the closer for the team. The Ft. Pierce native leads the team in saves (12). The senior's save count is tied for 20th in the nation for most saves. Koerner had his only start of his senior season throwing 6.1 innings in a no decision against JU in the second championship game. He gave up three runs on six hits, walked one and struck out one.
Gonzalez, a junior college transfer from Seminole State College in Oklahoma, was an A-SUN First Team All-Conference member, and played a crucial role in the final game of the championship game. The Bayamon, Puerto Rico native hit a game-tying two run single that helped FGCU rout to the 4-3 win in the championship. Gonzalez is ranked 42nd in the nation in hits.
Crawford, also a junior college transfer from Indian River State College, only played one game in the tournament. In the opening game against UNF, Crawford threw eight shutout innings and gave up four hits, walk two batters and struck out 10. The Okeechobee native was named an A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and an A-SUN All-Tournament Team member. Crawford is No. 8 in the nation in ERA with a 1.58 ERA.
In the matchups, No. 2 FGCU will face No. 3 Michigan at 1 pm while No.1 UNC faces No. 4 Davidson at 6 pm.
All the matchups in the regionals will vary and air on ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ESPNews, ESPNU, and probably the SEC Network. Each regional is double elimination.
The winners of the Chapel Hill Regional and the Houston Regional will face each other in a best of three series in the Chapel Hill Super Regionals.
FGCU (42-18, 11-3 A-Sun) was selected in the Chapel Hill Regional of the Chapel Hill Super Regional in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. UNC will be hosting the regional since it is at Chapel Hill.
The four teams have been finalized in the regional and FGCU will face the University of Michigan (42-15, 16-8 Big Ten).
Joining FGCU and Michigan in the regional will be Davidson College (32-24, 13-11 A-10) and No. 2 UNC (47-12, 22-7 ACC).
The seed are listed as followed:
1. No. 2 UNC
2. FGCU
3. Michigan
4. Davidson
The Chapel Hill Regional will go against the Houston Regional in Houston, Texas. Four teams will be playing there in order:
1.Houston (40-19, 15-9 AAC)
2. Baylor (34-21, 12-12 Big 12)
3. Texas A&M (36-21, 16-14 SEC)
4. Iowa (38-20, 15-9 Big Ten)
Houston will be the host of the Houston Regional.
FGCU won the A-SUN Conference Tournament Championship and claimed an automatic bid this past Saturday after beating JU twice in the championship (4-2 in game 1 and 4-3 (10) in game 2).
It was the help of a variety of players from FGCU that help them win and the players to look for are A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera, A-SUN Freshman of the Year, Richie Garcia, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers, Kenton Hering, Sterling Koerner and A-SUN First Team All-Conference members, Julio Gonzalez and Kutter Crawford.
Rivera, a redshirt senior and the powerhouse of the team, currently lead the team and the A-SUN in home runs (17). His 17 home runs also helped him claim the record for most home runs overall in the A-SUN with 43. Rivera was also a A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN All-Tournament Team member. In the nation, Rivera is fourth in the nation in walks (57), eighth in the nation in walks per game (.95) and 22nd in the nation with 17 home runs.
Garcia, a freshman, is mainly known for his contact swing and popular walk-up song. To go with the A-SUN Freshman of the Year title, Garcia was also a member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team.
Coffers, also a freshman, was named to the A-SUN All-Freshman and A-SUN All-Tournament Team. Coffers also was named A-SUN All-Tournament Team MVP after batting .500 throughout the whole tournament. He had 10 hits, one home run, five RBI and five runs scored.
Hering, a redshirt junior and transfer from Eastern Florida State College, was the set up man for relief pitching. The Melbourne, Florida native went 2-0 with two saves and pitched in four of the six games throughout the whole tournament that were crucial including against Kennesaw State and the first game against JU. Hering (7-3-6, 2.04 ERA) was also named to the A-SUN All-Tournament Team.
Despite struggling in the series against JU in the season, Koerner is normally the closer for the team. The Ft. Pierce native leads the team in saves (12). The senior's save count is tied for 20th in the nation for most saves. Koerner had his only start of his senior season throwing 6.1 innings in a no decision against JU in the second championship game. He gave up three runs on six hits, walked one and struck out one.
Gonzalez, a junior college transfer from Seminole State College in Oklahoma, was an A-SUN First Team All-Conference member, and played a crucial role in the final game of the championship game. The Bayamon, Puerto Rico native hit a game-tying two run single that helped FGCU rout to the 4-3 win in the championship. Gonzalez is ranked 42nd in the nation in hits.
Crawford, also a junior college transfer from Indian River State College, only played one game in the tournament. In the opening game against UNF, Crawford threw eight shutout innings and gave up four hits, walk two batters and struck out 10. The Okeechobee native was named an A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and an A-SUN All-Tournament Team member. Crawford is No. 8 in the nation in ERA with a 1.58 ERA.
In the matchups, No. 2 FGCU will face No. 3 Michigan at 1 pm while No.1 UNC faces No. 4 Davidson at 6 pm.
All the matchups in the regionals will vary and air on ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ESPNews, ESPNU, and probably the SEC Network. Each regional is double elimination.
The winners of the Chapel Hill Regional and the Houston Regional will face each other in a best of three series in the Chapel Hill Super Regionals.
FGCU Baseball: Finalized Automatic Bids
As noted, FGCU is one of the teams that have punched their tickets to the regionals of the national tournament.
Listed are the 31 teams that have automatically qualified from their conference tournament:
1. UMBC- America East
2. Houston- AAC
3. FSU- ACC
4. FGCU- A-SUN
5. Davidson- A-10
6. Oklahoma State- Big 12
7. Xavier- Big East
8. Radford- Big South
9. Iowa- Big Ten
10. *Long Beach State- Big West
11. Delaware- Colonial
12. Rice- C-USA
13. UIC- Horizon
14. **Yale- Ivy League
15. Marist- MAAC
16. Ohio- MAC
17. Bethune-Cookman- MEAC
18. Dallas Baptist- MVC
19. San Diego State- MWC
20. Central Connecticut State- NEC
21. Tennessee Tech- OVC
22. *Oregon State- PAC 12
23. Holy Cross- Patriot
24. LSU- SEC
25. UNC Greensboro- SoCon
26. Sam Houston- Southland
27. Texas Southern- SWAC
28. Oral Roberts- Summit League
29. South Alabama- Sun Belt
30. BYU- WCC
31. Sacramento State- WAC
*Oregon State and Long Beach State do not have a conference tournament and won as a season champion.
** Yale played as one of two top teams in the Ivy League and won the first annual Ivy League Baseball Championship Series.
The ones that have not won their conference tournaments will have an at large bid for the tournament. The teams that qualify are based on Rating Percentage Index (RPI). RPI is is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule.
FGCU's schedule was pretty strong and had they lost to JU in either of the championship games, they would have a strong possibility to receive an at-large bid in the regionals.
Listed are the 31 teams that have automatically qualified from their conference tournament:
1. UMBC- America East
2. Houston- AAC
3. FSU- ACC
4. FGCU- A-SUN
5. Davidson- A-10
6. Oklahoma State- Big 12
7. Xavier- Big East
8. Radford- Big South
9. Iowa- Big Ten
10. *Long Beach State- Big West
11. Delaware- Colonial
12. Rice- C-USA
13. UIC- Horizon
14. **Yale- Ivy League
15. Marist- MAAC
16. Ohio- MAC
17. Bethune-Cookman- MEAC
18. Dallas Baptist- MVC
19. San Diego State- MWC
20. Central Connecticut State- NEC
21. Tennessee Tech- OVC
22. *Oregon State- PAC 12
23. Holy Cross- Patriot
24. LSU- SEC
25. UNC Greensboro- SoCon
26. Sam Houston- Southland
27. Texas Southern- SWAC
28. Oral Roberts- Summit League
29. South Alabama- Sun Belt
30. BYU- WCC
31. Sacramento State- WAC
*Oregon State and Long Beach State do not have a conference tournament and won as a season champion.
** Yale played as one of two top teams in the Ivy League and won the first annual Ivy League Baseball Championship Series.
The ones that have not won their conference tournaments will have an at large bid for the tournament. The teams that qualify are based on Rating Percentage Index (RPI). RPI is is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule.
FGCU's schedule was pretty strong and had they lost to JU in either of the championship games, they would have a strong possibility to receive an at-large bid in the regionals.
FGCU Baseball Conference Tournament Update 4: The Winner is... FGCU
It was gonna be a battle between two teams in the A-SUN Conference Baseball Tournament: No.1 JU and No. 3 FGCU. FGCU (41-18, 13-8 A-SUN) and JU (36-23, 16-5 A-SUN) are set to battle one to two more times at Conrad Park in Deland Florida. The winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the regionals of the national tournament. There are a couple of catches to this matchup: If JU beats FGCU, they will go to the regionals and FGCU will be finished for the year. On the other hand, if FGCU wins, they will have to play one more game against JU to stay alive and go for the regionals.
A little recap of the tournament overall:
1. No. 2 seed Stetson was the host of the tournament after winning the previous tournament and season crown.
2. No. 2 seed Stetson was the first team eliminated from the tournament.
3. JU did not lose any games throughout the whole tournament (until the end).
4. The teams eliminated in order are as noted: 1. Stetson 2. UNF 3. Lipscomb and 4. Kennesaw State.
Before the final matchup(s), FGCU and JU played each other previously in the opening conference games of the season. JU won the conference series 2-1. FGCU would win the first game 4-0, but would lose the second game 5-10 and the third game 2-5 in 11 innings. The third game was the most heated game in the series. Words were exchanged and a fight broke out. Five players total were ejected from the game.
The first game of the championship went underway. For the pitcher's duel, JU sent sophomore Mike Cassala (0-4, 5.31 ERA) to start the game while FGCU countered with junior Peyton Gray (3-3, 4.85 ERA).
Through the first two innings, it was quiet for both teams until FGCU struck first. At the top of the third, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Alex Brait started with a leadoff single. After a strikeout by junior Eli Lovell, sophomore Jake Smith would hit a single before junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member, Julio Gonzalez, hit a single to right to drive in Brait for the first run of the championship game.
JU would strike back, however. Starting with a single from redshirt sophomore Reagan Wright, a sacrifice bunt from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Ruben Someillan and a strikeout to sophomore Dakota Julylia, senior A-SUN First Team All-Conference and A-SUN All-Acadmic Team member Nathan Koslowski drove in Wright for JU's first run of the game.
By the bottom of the fourth, Gray was struggling. After getting sophomore A-SUN All-Acadmic Team member Angel Camacho to pop out and junior Sam Armstrong to strikeout, sophomore A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Evan Fernandez, hit a solo home run to give JU a 2-1 lead.
By the top of sixth inning, FGCU fought back. Redshirt Senior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera, lead off with a solo home run to left to tie the game 2-2. It did not stop there though. A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year Richie Garcia hit a single to left. After a sacrifice bunt from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers, back-to-back RBI doubles were struck by Brait and junior Matt Reardon for runs three and four of the game.
From the top of the seventh, Gray was able to relax more and finish through the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, redshirt junior Kenton Hering (7-3, 2.04 ERA) took over in relief. Hering made his fourth postseason appearance in the tournament so far. With Hering on the mound, Brait was switched with junior Spencer Levine as catcher. With the switch, Hering had no problem with the final two innings and closed the door on the Dolphins for the 4-2 win.
Grey was credited with his fourth win after throwing seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits, walked three batters and struck out five. Hering was credited with his sixth save of the year after throwing two scoreless innings of relief and striking out three batters.
Almost everyone of FGCU's batters had at least one hit.
Gonzalez was 3-for-5 with two singles, a double and an RBI.
Reardon was 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Brait was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, an RBI and a run scored.
Smith, Coffers, Garcia and Rivera had one hit each.
Morey and Lovell were the only batters that were hitless. Morey was 0-for-4 with a walk while Lovell was 0-for-3 with a walk.
Rivera was 1-for-4 with a walk and a home run. The home run hit by him was his 17th home run of the year and the 43rd home run of his collegiate career. He holds the record for most home runs overall for FGCU and the A-SUN.
During the tournament, a few of FGCU's players, including Smith and Reardon were battling through injuries. With the win, FGCU and JU had one more game to play for all the marbles.
JU would send sophomore Chris Gau (2-4, 3.41 ERA) to the mound while FGCU tried something different and had senior Sterling Koerner to start. Koerner (2-3, 5.47 ERA) was mainly used as the closer for FGCU. Koerner leads the team and the conference with 12 saves, so this was his first start for FGCU this season.
A little recap of the tournament overall:
1. No. 2 seed Stetson was the host of the tournament after winning the previous tournament and season crown.
2. No. 2 seed Stetson was the first team eliminated from the tournament.
3. JU did not lose any games throughout the whole tournament (until the end).
4. The teams eliminated in order are as noted: 1. Stetson 2. UNF 3. Lipscomb and 4. Kennesaw State.
Before the final matchup(s), FGCU and JU played each other previously in the opening conference games of the season. JU won the conference series 2-1. FGCU would win the first game 4-0, but would lose the second game 5-10 and the third game 2-5 in 11 innings. The third game was the most heated game in the series. Words were exchanged and a fight broke out. Five players total were ejected from the game.
The first game of the championship went underway. For the pitcher's duel, JU sent sophomore Mike Cassala (0-4, 5.31 ERA) to start the game while FGCU countered with junior Peyton Gray (3-3, 4.85 ERA).
Through the first two innings, it was quiet for both teams until FGCU struck first. At the top of the third, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Alex Brait started with a leadoff single. After a strikeout by junior Eli Lovell, sophomore Jake Smith would hit a single before junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member, Julio Gonzalez, hit a single to right to drive in Brait for the first run of the championship game.
JU would strike back, however. Starting with a single from redshirt sophomore Reagan Wright, a sacrifice bunt from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Ruben Someillan and a strikeout to sophomore Dakota Julylia, senior A-SUN First Team All-Conference and A-SUN All-Acadmic Team member Nathan Koslowski drove in Wright for JU's first run of the game.
By the bottom of the fourth, Gray was struggling. After getting sophomore A-SUN All-Acadmic Team member Angel Camacho to pop out and junior Sam Armstrong to strikeout, sophomore A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Evan Fernandez, hit a solo home run to give JU a 2-1 lead.
By the top of sixth inning, FGCU fought back. Redshirt Senior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera, lead off with a solo home run to left to tie the game 2-2. It did not stop there though. A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year Richie Garcia hit a single to left. After a sacrifice bunt from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers, back-to-back RBI doubles were struck by Brait and junior Matt Reardon for runs three and four of the game.
From the top of the seventh, Gray was able to relax more and finish through the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, redshirt junior Kenton Hering (7-3, 2.04 ERA) took over in relief. Hering made his fourth postseason appearance in the tournament so far. With Hering on the mound, Brait was switched with junior Spencer Levine as catcher. With the switch, Hering had no problem with the final two innings and closed the door on the Dolphins for the 4-2 win.
Grey was credited with his fourth win after throwing seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits, walked three batters and struck out five. Hering was credited with his sixth save of the year after throwing two scoreless innings of relief and striking out three batters.
Almost everyone of FGCU's batters had at least one hit.
Gonzalez was 3-for-5 with two singles, a double and an RBI.
Reardon was 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Brait was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, an RBI and a run scored.
Smith, Coffers, Garcia and Rivera had one hit each.
Morey and Lovell were the only batters that were hitless. Morey was 0-for-4 with a walk while Lovell was 0-for-3 with a walk.
Rivera was 1-for-4 with a walk and a home run. The home run hit by him was his 17th home run of the year and the 43rd home run of his collegiate career. He holds the record for most home runs overall for FGCU and the A-SUN.
During the tournament, a few of FGCU's players, including Smith and Reardon were battling through injuries. With the win, FGCU and JU had one more game to play for all the marbles.
JU would send sophomore Chris Gau (2-4, 3.41 ERA) to the mound while FGCU tried something different and had senior Sterling Koerner to start. Koerner (2-3, 5.47 ERA) was mainly used as the closer for FGCU. Koerner leads the team and the conference with 12 saves, so this was his first start for FGCU this season.
Now I was really questionable and weary with the choice that head coach Dave Tollett made with Koerner for several reasons:
1. Koerner is a closer, not a starter.
2. Koerner has had some rough games against JU during the season where he blew two saves.
3. When Koerner enters into the game that is not a save situation, there are a few red flags waved that are, to me, questionable. So I was nervous to see what would happen.
In the bottom of the first, JU struck first. After a single from Koslowski, a sacrifice bunt from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Scott Dubrule and another single from Camacho, Armstrong would hit a sac fly and bring in Koslowski for the first run Cassala flew out to end the top half of the inning.
At the top of the second, FGCU would get their first run on the board. Reardon, despite battling an injury, lead off with a single. After Brait walked, Lovell would make a sac bunt and move Reardon and Brait. Smith would hit a sac fly and drive a hobbling Reardon home for the first run.
Koerner was still struggling. In the fourth inning, Koerner gave up a single to Fernandez. After a sacrifice bunt from redshirt junior Chris Lehane, Someillan would hit an RBI single and drive in Fernandez to make it 2-1 JU. FGCU's bat were very quiet throughout parts of the game.
In the bottom of the seventh, Koerner gave up a single to Someillan. After a sac bunt from Julylia, Tollett pulled Koerner out of the game and decided to put redshirt sophomore Josh Dye (8-5, 3.32 ERA) to finish the inning. Although it effected Koerner's ERA, Dye would get Koslowski to fly out before giving up an RBI single to Dubrule before striking out Camacho. Camacho would reach first on a wild pitch, but Dye would get out of the inning and get Armstrong to flyout to end the seventh.
It looked like FGCU's chances of getting their first conference tournament championship and automatic bid to the regionals of the national tournament were slipping away fast, but at the top of the ninth, the Eagles fought back. Senior A-SUN All-Acadmic Team member Corey Fehribach would leadoff as a pinch hitter for Brait and start with a walk. Lovell would then follow with a single to left. After that, head coach Chris Hayes would pull Gau out and send junior Spencer Stockton (5-2, 2.42 ERA) to pitch.
In the bottom of the first, JU struck first. After a single from Koslowski, a sacrifice bunt from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Scott Dubrule and another single from Camacho, Armstrong would hit a sac fly and bring in Koslowski for the first run Cassala flew out to end the top half of the inning.
At the top of the second, FGCU would get their first run on the board. Reardon, despite battling an injury, lead off with a single. After Brait walked, Lovell would make a sac bunt and move Reardon and Brait. Smith would hit a sac fly and drive a hobbling Reardon home for the first run.
Koerner was still struggling. In the fourth inning, Koerner gave up a single to Fernandez. After a sacrifice bunt from redshirt junior Chris Lehane, Someillan would hit an RBI single and drive in Fernandez to make it 2-1 JU. FGCU's bat were very quiet throughout parts of the game.
In the bottom of the seventh, Koerner gave up a single to Someillan. After a sac bunt from Julylia, Tollett pulled Koerner out of the game and decided to put redshirt sophomore Josh Dye (8-5, 3.32 ERA) to finish the inning. Although it effected Koerner's ERA, Dye would get Koslowski to fly out before giving up an RBI single to Dubrule before striking out Camacho. Camacho would reach first on a wild pitch, but Dye would get out of the inning and get Armstrong to flyout to end the seventh.
It looked like FGCU's chances of getting their first conference tournament championship and automatic bid to the regionals of the national tournament were slipping away fast, but at the top of the ninth, the Eagles fought back. Senior A-SUN All-Acadmic Team member Corey Fehribach would leadoff as a pinch hitter for Brait and start with a walk. Lovell would then follow with a single to left. After that, head coach Chris Hayes would pull Gau out and send junior Spencer Stockton (5-2, 2.42 ERA) to pitch.
Before Stockton could pitch, Tollett sent freshman Tyler Yeager to pinch run for Lovell. Smith would lay down a sac bunt to move Fehribach and Yeager into scoring position for Gonzalez. Scared to look right away, Gonzalez saved FGCU and hit a game-tying two-RBI single up the middle to make it 3-3.
In the bottom of the ninth, FGCU went to the bullpen again and had redshirt junior Parker Hamilton (1-0, 3.54 ERA) pitch in the ninth inning. With Hamilton in the game, Tollett made a few more defensive changes. Levine would come in as the catcher and freshman Cameron Krzeminski would come in at left field. Hamilton had no trouble and swept through the inning with ease.
The game was now going to extra innings. JU would make another pitching change and send freshman Tyler Santana (4-1, 2.79 ERA) to pitch. After Garcia lined out to start the 10th inning, Coffers and Reardon hit back-to-back singles. After a Levine walk, Santana would throw a wild pitch and Coffers would score the hopefully winning run for FGCU before Krzeminski struck out and Smith flew out to end the inning.
Tollett would make one last pitching change for a save situation. He sent senior Garrett Anderson (7-1, 3.43 ERA) to pitch and get the save. Anderson would give up a leadoff single to Dubrule, but it had very little effect on Anderson. Camacho would groundout into a double play. With two outs, Hayes would have sophomore Connor Stephens pinch hit and face Anderson. Stephens grounded out to second and FGCU would claim their first ever A-SUN Conference Championship and secure an automatic bid in the regionals.
Koerner earned a no decision after he threw 6.1 innings and gave up three runs on six hits and walked one batter and struck out one. Hamilton was credited with his second win of the year after one scoreless inning. Anderson was credited with his third save of the year.
four players from FGCU had two hits each (Morey, Garcia, Coffers and Reardon).
At the award ceremony, the A-SUN All-Tournament team was announced at the end.
Gau, Dubrule, Cassala and Lehane represented runner-up JU.
Junior Kutter Crawford, Rivera, Hering and Coffers represented FGCU. Coffers was also named A-SUN All-Tournament Team MVP.
Juniors First Team A-SUN All-Conference members, Austin Upshaw and A-SUN Co-Defensive Players of the Year, Grant Williams of Kennesaw and Michael Gigliotti of Lipscomb, were also recognized on A-SUN All-Tournament team, but they were not in attendance due to being eliminated earlier from the tournament.
FGCU is going to the regionals of the national tournament for the first time in program history and will represent the A-SUN Conference. On Monday, the NCAA will provide a selection show for fans to watch on ESPN2 at noon. During the selection show, it won't be just the conference winners that are being selected. Teams that have an at-large bid will also be selected in the tournament. It is unknown who FGCU will play in the tournament and where their regional games are going to be. It's a random selection, so they may play Bethune-Cookman, Florida or Florida State again or they may play a team that they have never played against like UIC or BYU. Whoever FGCU plays, they will give it all they got.
In the bottom of the ninth, FGCU went to the bullpen again and had redshirt junior Parker Hamilton (1-0, 3.54 ERA) pitch in the ninth inning. With Hamilton in the game, Tollett made a few more defensive changes. Levine would come in as the catcher and freshman Cameron Krzeminski would come in at left field. Hamilton had no trouble and swept through the inning with ease.
The game was now going to extra innings. JU would make another pitching change and send freshman Tyler Santana (4-1, 2.79 ERA) to pitch. After Garcia lined out to start the 10th inning, Coffers and Reardon hit back-to-back singles. After a Levine walk, Santana would throw a wild pitch and Coffers would score the hopefully winning run for FGCU before Krzeminski struck out and Smith flew out to end the inning.
Tollett would make one last pitching change for a save situation. He sent senior Garrett Anderson (7-1, 3.43 ERA) to pitch and get the save. Anderson would give up a leadoff single to Dubrule, but it had very little effect on Anderson. Camacho would groundout into a double play. With two outs, Hayes would have sophomore Connor Stephens pinch hit and face Anderson. Stephens grounded out to second and FGCU would claim their first ever A-SUN Conference Championship and secure an automatic bid in the regionals.
Koerner earned a no decision after he threw 6.1 innings and gave up three runs on six hits and walked one batter and struck out one. Hamilton was credited with his second win of the year after one scoreless inning. Anderson was credited with his third save of the year.
four players from FGCU had two hits each (Morey, Garcia, Coffers and Reardon).
At the award ceremony, the A-SUN All-Tournament team was announced at the end.
Gau, Dubrule, Cassala and Lehane represented runner-up JU.
Junior Kutter Crawford, Rivera, Hering and Coffers represented FGCU. Coffers was also named A-SUN All-Tournament Team MVP.
Juniors First Team A-SUN All-Conference members, Austin Upshaw and A-SUN Co-Defensive Players of the Year, Grant Williams of Kennesaw and Michael Gigliotti of Lipscomb, were also recognized on A-SUN All-Tournament team, but they were not in attendance due to being eliminated earlier from the tournament.
FGCU is going to the regionals of the national tournament for the first time in program history and will represent the A-SUN Conference. On Monday, the NCAA will provide a selection show for fans to watch on ESPN2 at noon. During the selection show, it won't be just the conference winners that are being selected. Teams that have an at-large bid will also be selected in the tournament. It is unknown who FGCU will play in the tournament and where their regional games are going to be. It's a random selection, so they may play Bethune-Cookman, Florida or Florida State again or they may play a team that they have never played against like UIC or BYU. Whoever FGCU plays, they will give it all they got.
FGCU Baseball: Conference Tournament Update 3
With three teams remaining, the A-SUN Conference Baseball Tournament is nearing to the end. No. 1 JU, No.4 FGCU and No. 5 Kennesaw State are the three teams remaining in the tournament. JU is 3-0 going the tournament while FGCU and KSU are 2-1 each.
Three teams have already been eliminated from the tournament: No. 4 UNF, No. 2 Stetson and No. 6 Lipscomb. Stetson was the host of the tournament and were the defending champions, but after losses to KSU (5-10) and Lipscomb (6-8), they were the first team eliminated from the tournament.
After losing 4-0 to FGCU in the first round, UNF played their crosstown conference rival, JU, and lost 5-8. UNF was the second team eliminated from the tournament.
For Lipscomb, they lost to JU (2-8) in the first round and were sent to the losers bracket. After beating Stetson and eliminating the host team, they played FGCU and lost 3-1. Lipscomb would be the third team eliminated from the tournament.
FGCU started off hot in the tournament beating UNF 4-0, but then fell apart after losing 6-3 to KSU and were sent to the losers bracket. Hoping to stay alive, FGCU beat Lipscomb 3-1 and awaited a matchup between KSU and JU. JU would beat KSU 8-4 and send the Owls to the losers bracket. This was the opportunity that FGCU was waiting for. With the loss, KSU played FGCU in the losers bracket. The winner would play JU in the championship game. This was the last chance for both teams.
KSU would send redshirt freshman Nathan Dupree (1-5, 11.08 ERA) to mound. Hoping to counter the matchup, FGCU would send redshirt junior Mario Leon (4-2, 4.29 ERA) to do the job.
At the top of first inning, Leon was off to a shaky start after surrendering a leadoff single to junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and co-A-SUN Defensive Player of the year Grant Williams, but was able to strikeout senior Corey Greeson. After giving up another single to junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Austin Upshaw, Leon was able to strikeout redshirt junior Forrest Bramlett, but KSU would bring in the first run after junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference and A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Taylor Allum, hit a single to right. Leon was able to get the final out by striking out A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Garrett Hodges.
In the bottom of the first, FGCU struck back. After Dupree delivered back-to-back walks to junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez and redshirt junior Gage Morey, A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera flew out and moved Gonzalez to third. Morey would get caught stealing second for the second out. With hope for FGCU's first run seeming to dwindle away, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year, Richie Garcia would walk to first before fellow teammate and A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers would drive in Gonzalez for FGCU's first run on a single before junior Matt Reardon fouled out.
With the score 1-1, Leon was on a strikeout tear by each inning. At the top of the second inning, he struck out two batters and one in the top of the third. He had six strikeouts in three innings.
In the bottom of the third, FGCU's bats struck again. After a leadoff single from Morey and a walk to Rivera, both teams advanced to second and third base on a passed ball. Two batters later, Coffers gave FGCU the lead with a single to right, driving in Morey for the second run. After Reardon walked to load the bases, that was a signal of the end for Dupree and he was pulled from the game after throwing 2.1 innings and walking six batters.
After losing 4-0 to FGCU in the first round, UNF played their crosstown conference rival, JU, and lost 5-8. UNF was the second team eliminated from the tournament.
For Lipscomb, they lost to JU (2-8) in the first round and were sent to the losers bracket. After beating Stetson and eliminating the host team, they played FGCU and lost 3-1. Lipscomb would be the third team eliminated from the tournament.
FGCU started off hot in the tournament beating UNF 4-0, but then fell apart after losing 6-3 to KSU and were sent to the losers bracket. Hoping to stay alive, FGCU beat Lipscomb 3-1 and awaited a matchup between KSU and JU. JU would beat KSU 8-4 and send the Owls to the losers bracket. This was the opportunity that FGCU was waiting for. With the loss, KSU played FGCU in the losers bracket. The winner would play JU in the championship game. This was the last chance for both teams.
KSU would send redshirt freshman Nathan Dupree (1-5, 11.08 ERA) to mound. Hoping to counter the matchup, FGCU would send redshirt junior Mario Leon (4-2, 4.29 ERA) to do the job.
At the top of first inning, Leon was off to a shaky start after surrendering a leadoff single to junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and co-A-SUN Defensive Player of the year Grant Williams, but was able to strikeout senior Corey Greeson. After giving up another single to junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Austin Upshaw, Leon was able to strikeout redshirt junior Forrest Bramlett, but KSU would bring in the first run after junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference and A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Taylor Allum, hit a single to right. Leon was able to get the final out by striking out A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Garrett Hodges.
In the bottom of the first, FGCU struck back. After Dupree delivered back-to-back walks to junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez and redshirt junior Gage Morey, A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera flew out and moved Gonzalez to third. Morey would get caught stealing second for the second out. With hope for FGCU's first run seeming to dwindle away, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year, Richie Garcia would walk to first before fellow teammate and A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers would drive in Gonzalez for FGCU's first run on a single before junior Matt Reardon fouled out.
With the score 1-1, Leon was on a strikeout tear by each inning. At the top of the second inning, he struck out two batters and one in the top of the third. He had six strikeouts in three innings.
In the bottom of the third, FGCU's bats struck again. After a leadoff single from Morey and a walk to Rivera, both teams advanced to second and third base on a passed ball. Two batters later, Coffers gave FGCU the lead with a single to right, driving in Morey for the second run. After Reardon walked to load the bases, that was a signal of the end for Dupree and he was pulled from the game after throwing 2.1 innings and walking six batters.
Kennesaw head coach Mike Sansing would make a call to the bullpen and bring in redshirt senior Brock Turner to pitch. With the bases loaded, junior Eli Lovell would get hit by a pitch and bring in Rivera for FGCU's third run of the game.
Leon would continue his strikeout tear with one at the top of the fourth inning and one in the fifth.
In the bottom of the fourth, FGCU, already ahead 3-0, struck again. Gonzalez would start with a leadoff walk. After a fielder's choice by Morey, Rivera would hit a single and move Morey to third. The bases were once again loaded after Garcia walked and then Coffers would hit a sacrifice fly and bring in Morey for the fourth run of the game.
At the top of the sixth, Leon struggled again. After getting Williams to ground out and Greeson to strikeout again, Upshaw would hit a two out single and Bramlett would hit an RBI double for KSU's second run of the game. Leon was able to get Allum to strikeout to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, FGCU struck again. Morey started the bottom half of the inning with a leadoff double. After an intentional walk to Rivera, Garcia would load the bases again with a bunt single. After Coffers struck out, Reardon would bring in Morey for FGCU's fifth run on another sacrifice fly before Lovell struck out.
Leon really struggled in the seventh. After Hodges flew out, Leon gave up back-to-back-back singles with the third one driving in KSU's third run of the game. After getting Williams to fly out and giving up a single to load the bases, Upshaw would tie the game to 5-5 with bases loaded two-RBI single. Head coach Dave Tollett would pull Leon and bring in redshirt junior Kenton Hering (6-3, 2.21 ERA) to finish the inning. After Upshaw stole second, Hering got Bramlett to strike out and end the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, KSU would have senior Turner Watkins come in to pitch while FGCU had an opportunity to take the lead in the inning. Levine would strike out and Smith fouled out, but Gonzalez started with a two out single. Sansing would pull Watkins out and send senior Eric Stahl to pitch. After Stahl walked Morey, Gonzalez and Morey advance to second and third for Rivera. Having knowing about Rivera's power, Stahl would intentionally walk him before having Garcia fly out to end the inning.
Soon, Hering was seemingly in a jam in the top of the eighth. After striking out Allum, Hering gave up a double to Hodges and walked redshirt junior Ladonis Bryant. But it meant nothing to Hering as he struck out the final two batters to end the top of the inning.
The bottom of the eighth inning was the most surprising and kind of controversial. After Coffers and Reardon grounded out, Lovell was up to the plate. With a full count, Stahl pitched to what looked like a strikeout and Lovell thought the same thing, but the umpire called the last pitch ball four and Lovell walked to first base.
Leon would continue his strikeout tear with one at the top of the fourth inning and one in the fifth.
In the bottom of the fourth, FGCU, already ahead 3-0, struck again. Gonzalez would start with a leadoff walk. After a fielder's choice by Morey, Rivera would hit a single and move Morey to third. The bases were once again loaded after Garcia walked and then Coffers would hit a sacrifice fly and bring in Morey for the fourth run of the game.
At the top of the sixth, Leon struggled again. After getting Williams to ground out and Greeson to strikeout again, Upshaw would hit a two out single and Bramlett would hit an RBI double for KSU's second run of the game. Leon was able to get Allum to strikeout to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, FGCU struck again. Morey started the bottom half of the inning with a leadoff double. After an intentional walk to Rivera, Garcia would load the bases again with a bunt single. After Coffers struck out, Reardon would bring in Morey for FGCU's fifth run on another sacrifice fly before Lovell struck out.
Leon really struggled in the seventh. After Hodges flew out, Leon gave up back-to-back-back singles with the third one driving in KSU's third run of the game. After getting Williams to fly out and giving up a single to load the bases, Upshaw would tie the game to 5-5 with bases loaded two-RBI single. Head coach Dave Tollett would pull Leon and bring in redshirt junior Kenton Hering (6-3, 2.21 ERA) to finish the inning. After Upshaw stole second, Hering got Bramlett to strike out and end the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, KSU would have senior Turner Watkins come in to pitch while FGCU had an opportunity to take the lead in the inning. Levine would strike out and Smith fouled out, but Gonzalez started with a two out single. Sansing would pull Watkins out and send senior Eric Stahl to pitch. After Stahl walked Morey, Gonzalez and Morey advance to second and third for Rivera. Having knowing about Rivera's power, Stahl would intentionally walk him before having Garcia fly out to end the inning.
Soon, Hering was seemingly in a jam in the top of the eighth. After striking out Allum, Hering gave up a double to Hodges and walked redshirt junior Ladonis Bryant. But it meant nothing to Hering as he struck out the final two batters to end the top of the inning.
The bottom of the eighth inning was the most surprising and kind of controversial. After Coffers and Reardon grounded out, Lovell was up to the plate. With a full count, Stahl pitched to what looked like a strikeout and Lovell thought the same thing, but the umpire called the last pitch ball four and Lovell walked to first base.
The whole crowd and both teams were shocked, and looking from an unbiased view that should have been a strikeout to end the inning. Sansing, with so much rage, tried to argue the call and called the umpire out, but the umpire gave him a warning, which could've lead to a possible ejection if he was warned again. Even Lovell thought he struck out. Stahl would give up back-to-back singles to Levine and Smith before Gonzalez grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
The top of the ninth became intense. Hering would strike out Williams, but Williams would reach second after a wild pitch and a Levine throwing error to first. Greeson would groundout for the first out and move Williams to third. Upshaw would pop out to Gonzalez for the second out leaving it up to Bramlett to try to bring the game-winning run. Bramlett, however, would not get the job done and Hering with so much excitement, struck out Bramlett and shout out loud "Let's go" to end the inning.
It was now down to the bottom of the ninth for FGCU. Morey started the inning with a leadoff walk. Hoping not to be walked again, Rivera lined a single to right. After a Garcia sacrifice bunt, Coffers was intentionally walked to load the bases for Reardon. Reardon only needed to bring in one run to win the game, so he could hit a sac fly, a bases loaded single or try and draw a walk to do so. With a 2-2 count, Reardon hit a fly ball to left with two possible outcomes: a sac fly or a hit. Greeson missed the ball and Morey would score on Reardon's single. FGCU would win the game 6-5 and will face JU in the championship game.
"That was the clutch hit we had been looking for all night, and Matt has been playing with nothing but heart and guts right now," said Tollett. "We needed that. We're on fumes right now, but there's a little gas left in that tank. All of our pitchers did a great job today. Garrett (Anderson) turned in a heck of a performance in game one, and Mario (Leon) and Kenton (Hering) backed him up in game two. Kenton was really special. I don't know the last time I saw a performance like that in the backend. It gets us to 40 wins, and I think we can talk about a real chance at an at-large berth. We're playing for the automatic bid first and foremost, though."
Leon, despite a tremendous game he played, would receive a no-decision after throwing 6.2 innings, giving up five runs on 10 hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts. Hering would be credited with his seventh win of the year after throwing 2.1 scoreless innings while giving up one hit, walking one batter and striking out six.
Stahl would be credited with the loss after 1.2 innings and giving up one run on four hits and walking four batters.
Four players from FGCU had multi-hit games.
Morey was 2-for-3 with a single, a double, three walks and four runs scored, Rivera was 2-for-3 with two singles, a run scored and three walks (two intentional), Coffers was 2-for-3 with two singles, three RBIs and a walk and Levine was 2-for-5 with two singles.
FGCU was walked 14 times throughout the whole game (three to Rivera and Morey, two to Gonzalez and Garcia and one to Coffers, Reardon, Lovell and Smith).
As a result of the loss, KSU was the fourth team eliminated from the tournament. FGCU will now play JU in the championship game on Saturday at 1 pm. If JU wins, they will win the conference tournament and an automatic bid in one of the regionals of the national tournament. If FGCU wins, they will have to play JU a second time for the championship since JU did not lose a game throughout the whole tournament.
Neither FGCU nor JU have ever been to the regionals of the tournament, so this will be their golden opportunities. Also, if FGCU lost, they might have a possible at-large bid for the tournament from their RPI ranking points. They are currently No. 41 in the NCAA's RPI rankings poll while JU is No. 56, so anything is possible to happen.
One team will represent the A-SUN in the tournament. Who will it be? The answer relies on the final championship game(s).
The top of the ninth became intense. Hering would strike out Williams, but Williams would reach second after a wild pitch and a Levine throwing error to first. Greeson would groundout for the first out and move Williams to third. Upshaw would pop out to Gonzalez for the second out leaving it up to Bramlett to try to bring the game-winning run. Bramlett, however, would not get the job done and Hering with so much excitement, struck out Bramlett and shout out loud "Let's go" to end the inning.
It was now down to the bottom of the ninth for FGCU. Morey started the inning with a leadoff walk. Hoping not to be walked again, Rivera lined a single to right. After a Garcia sacrifice bunt, Coffers was intentionally walked to load the bases for Reardon. Reardon only needed to bring in one run to win the game, so he could hit a sac fly, a bases loaded single or try and draw a walk to do so. With a 2-2 count, Reardon hit a fly ball to left with two possible outcomes: a sac fly or a hit. Greeson missed the ball and Morey would score on Reardon's single. FGCU would win the game 6-5 and will face JU in the championship game.
"That was the clutch hit we had been looking for all night, and Matt has been playing with nothing but heart and guts right now," said Tollett. "We needed that. We're on fumes right now, but there's a little gas left in that tank. All of our pitchers did a great job today. Garrett (Anderson) turned in a heck of a performance in game one, and Mario (Leon) and Kenton (Hering) backed him up in game two. Kenton was really special. I don't know the last time I saw a performance like that in the backend. It gets us to 40 wins, and I think we can talk about a real chance at an at-large berth. We're playing for the automatic bid first and foremost, though."
Leon, despite a tremendous game he played, would receive a no-decision after throwing 6.2 innings, giving up five runs on 10 hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts. Hering would be credited with his seventh win of the year after throwing 2.1 scoreless innings while giving up one hit, walking one batter and striking out six.
Stahl would be credited with the loss after 1.2 innings and giving up one run on four hits and walking four batters.
Four players from FGCU had multi-hit games.
Morey was 2-for-3 with a single, a double, three walks and four runs scored, Rivera was 2-for-3 with two singles, a run scored and three walks (two intentional), Coffers was 2-for-3 with two singles, three RBIs and a walk and Levine was 2-for-5 with two singles.
FGCU was walked 14 times throughout the whole game (three to Rivera and Morey, two to Gonzalez and Garcia and one to Coffers, Reardon, Lovell and Smith).
As a result of the loss, KSU was the fourth team eliminated from the tournament. FGCU will now play JU in the championship game on Saturday at 1 pm. If JU wins, they will win the conference tournament and an automatic bid in one of the regionals of the national tournament. If FGCU wins, they will have to play JU a second time for the championship since JU did not lose a game throughout the whole tournament.
Neither FGCU nor JU have ever been to the regionals of the tournament, so this will be their golden opportunities. Also, if FGCU lost, they might have a possible at-large bid for the tournament from their RPI ranking points. They are currently No. 41 in the NCAA's RPI rankings poll while JU is No. 56, so anything is possible to happen.
One team will represent the A-SUN in the tournament. Who will it be? The answer relies on the final championship game(s).
FGCU Baseball: Conference Tournament Update 2
Day two of the A-SUN Conference Baseball Tournament has gone in a few shocks. On day one, despite the 6 hour rain delay at night, No. 1 Jacksonville played No. 6 Lipscomb and won 8-2 to open the tournament. FGCU played UNF after the Jacksonville/Lipscomb game. Initially, the game was scheduled at 3 pm, but was pushed to 10 pm due to a heavy rain delay during the JU/Lipscomb game. The FGCU/UNF game went underway and FGCU would come out on top with a 4-0 win. Earlier in the tournament, No. 2 Stetson played No. 5 Kennesaw in an early morning game. KSU would win 10-5 against Stetson, sending the Hatters to the losers bracket.
Day two went underway and in the losers bracket, Lipscomb played Stetson in a crucial elimination game. Lipscomb would eventually beat Stetson 8-6 and remain safe in tournament while Stetson was the first team eliminated from the tournament.
With Stetson's second loss, there are two things that happened to them: 1. They were eliminated from the tournament, in which they were hosting. 2. They will not be defending their championship, so there will be a new A-SUN Conference champion.
"It just came down to the fact that the two teams we played today were better than us," head coach Steve Trimper said. "They executed more baseball plays than we did. That doesn't take away from how good we are or how good the other teams is the A-SUN Conference are, it is a hard-fought conference season and a hard-fought conference tournament with good teams."
“We thought runs would be at a premium today with those two guys throwing on the hill, but if you had told me it would be an 8-6 game, I would not have believed you,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand. “Overall I was pumped to see our guys to battle back like they did after they went down. They knew if we lost, our season was over so I think that sense of urgency kicked in and carried through. What a great team win.”
UNF would also face JU in a crucial game to keep them alive, but they would fall to their crosstown conference rival 8-5. UNF would be the second team eliminated from the tournament.
"This group, the entire season, has not panicked," Head Coach Chris Hayes said.
Four teams remained: No. 1 Jacksonville, No. 4 FGCU, No. 5 Kennesaw and No. 6 Lipscomb.
Day two went underway and in the losers bracket, Lipscomb played Stetson in a crucial elimination game. Lipscomb would eventually beat Stetson 8-6 and remain safe in tournament while Stetson was the first team eliminated from the tournament.
With Stetson's second loss, there are two things that happened to them: 1. They were eliminated from the tournament, in which they were hosting. 2. They will not be defending their championship, so there will be a new A-SUN Conference champion.
"It just came down to the fact that the two teams we played today were better than us," head coach Steve Trimper said. "They executed more baseball plays than we did. That doesn't take away from how good we are or how good the other teams is the A-SUN Conference are, it is a hard-fought conference season and a hard-fought conference tournament with good teams."
“We thought runs would be at a premium today with those two guys throwing on the hill, but if you had told me it would be an 8-6 game, I would not have believed you,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand. “Overall I was pumped to see our guys to battle back like they did after they went down. They knew if we lost, our season was over so I think that sense of urgency kicked in and carried through. What a great team win.”
UNF would also face JU in a crucial game to keep them alive, but they would fall to their crosstown conference rival 8-5. UNF would be the second team eliminated from the tournament.
"This group, the entire season, has not panicked," Head Coach Chris Hayes said.
Four teams remained: No. 1 Jacksonville, No. 4 FGCU, No. 5 Kennesaw and No. 6 Lipscomb.
FGCU played Kennesaw later that night. In the season, FGCU swept Kennesaw (Gm 1.8-1, Gm 2. 15-6 and Gm 3. 13-3).
The Eagles held their own going into the seventh inning, but fell 6-3 in the end despite a late rally attempt and would drop into the losers back to face Lipscomb again.
"We've got to do it the hard way now," said FGCU head coach Dave Tollett. "It's not necessarily the situation we wanted to be in after tonight, but we still believe in ourselves and know we can rattle off some wins. Give credit to Kennesaw State. They responded from last weekend and got a good outing on the mound with some big hits at the plate. We'll put this one behind and get back out there tomorrow to try and keep our hopes alive."
Redshirt sophomore Josh Dye was credited with the loss.
In the season, FGCU swept Lipscomb on senior day (Gm 1. 4-3 (11), Gm 2. 9-6 and Gm 3. 14-7). The winner of the game would face Kennesaw in the next round and the loser would the third team eliminated.
With both teams on the peak of being eliminated, FGCU would send senior Garrett Anderson to the mound while Lipscomb sent junior Dayton Tripp to counter.
In the first inning, Lipscomb struck first. After Anderson walked junior A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Michael Gigliotti, and gave up a single to junior A-SUN All-Academic Team member Lee Solomon, Lipscomb scored the first run on sacrifice fly from sophomore A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Zeke Dodson.
FGCU would strike back. After junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez and redshirt junior Gage Morey flew out, redshirt senior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera, hit a two out single to short and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With Rivera on second, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year, Richie Garcia, would hit a single and drive in Rivera to tie the game.
The bats for both teams were very quiet and it was a pitcher's duel between Anderson and Tripp until the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, FGCU's bats would wake up a bit. After Morey grounded out and Rivera flew out, Garcia would start the rally with a walk. After fellow teammate and All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers, was hit by a pitch, senior A-SUN All-Academic Team member Corey Fehribach hit a single to left and drove in Garcia for the second run of the game.
Anderson would continue to pitch well until head coach Dave Tollett decide to pull him. Anderson left the mound with a standing ovation and redshirt junior Kenton Hering would come in to relive Anderson and finish the top of the eighth.
With the score 2-1, in favor of FGCU, the Eagles were not quite finished and hoped to add at least one more run for insurance. Coffers would lead off with a walk. Lipscomb, however pulled junior Nicko Ortega, after playing a third of an inning and send Denton Norman to finish the inning. Coffers would steal second and advance to third on a throwing error before scoring the insurance on a Fehribach fielder's choice before Gonzalez flew out to end the inning.
Hering struck out sophomore Cade Sorrells before giving up a walk to Dodson. After striking out senior A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Hunter Hanks, Hering would get junior Blake Thomas to fly out and end the game.
Anderson would earn his seventh win after throwing 7.1 innings. He gave up one run on four hits while walking two batters and striking out six. Hering earned his sixth save after he threw 1.2 innings with one walk and two strikeouts.
Fehribach was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
Seven of FGCU's nine batters had one hit each.
With the loss, Lipscomb would be the third team eliminated from the tournament and FGCU will face Kennesaw in a rematch. Earlier, KSU lost to JU 8-4 in the winners bracket and ended up in the losers bracket.
With three teams remaining, Jacksonville awaits the winner between FGCU and KSU for the championship game. If either FGCU or KSU beat Jacksonville in the championship game, they would play JU a second time since JU did not lose throughout the whole tournament.
From the matchup with FGCU and KSU again, FGCU will send redshirt junior Mario Leon (4-2, 4.32 ERA) to face redshirt freshman Nathan Dupree (1-5, 10.87 ERA).
The Eagles held their own going into the seventh inning, but fell 6-3 in the end despite a late rally attempt and would drop into the losers back to face Lipscomb again.
"We've got to do it the hard way now," said FGCU head coach Dave Tollett. "It's not necessarily the situation we wanted to be in after tonight, but we still believe in ourselves and know we can rattle off some wins. Give credit to Kennesaw State. They responded from last weekend and got a good outing on the mound with some big hits at the plate. We'll put this one behind and get back out there tomorrow to try and keep our hopes alive."
Redshirt sophomore Josh Dye was credited with the loss.
In the season, FGCU swept Lipscomb on senior day (Gm 1. 4-3 (11), Gm 2. 9-6 and Gm 3. 14-7). The winner of the game would face Kennesaw in the next round and the loser would the third team eliminated.
In the first inning, Lipscomb struck first. After Anderson walked junior A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Michael Gigliotti, and gave up a single to junior A-SUN All-Academic Team member Lee Solomon, Lipscomb scored the first run on sacrifice fly from sophomore A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Zeke Dodson.
FGCU would strike back. After junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez and redshirt junior Gage Morey flew out, redshirt senior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Player of the Year, Nick Rivera, hit a two out single to short and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With Rivera on second, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year, Richie Garcia, would hit a single and drive in Rivera to tie the game.
The bats for both teams were very quiet and it was a pitcher's duel between Anderson and Tripp until the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, FGCU's bats would wake up a bit. After Morey grounded out and Rivera flew out, Garcia would start the rally with a walk. After fellow teammate and All-Freshman Team member Marc Coffers, was hit by a pitch, senior A-SUN All-Academic Team member Corey Fehribach hit a single to left and drove in Garcia for the second run of the game.
Anderson would continue to pitch well until head coach Dave Tollett decide to pull him. Anderson left the mound with a standing ovation and redshirt junior Kenton Hering would come in to relive Anderson and finish the top of the eighth.
With the score 2-1, in favor of FGCU, the Eagles were not quite finished and hoped to add at least one more run for insurance. Coffers would lead off with a walk. Lipscomb, however pulled junior Nicko Ortega, after playing a third of an inning and send Denton Norman to finish the inning. Coffers would steal second and advance to third on a throwing error before scoring the insurance on a Fehribach fielder's choice before Gonzalez flew out to end the inning.
Hering struck out sophomore Cade Sorrells before giving up a walk to Dodson. After striking out senior A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Hunter Hanks, Hering would get junior Blake Thomas to fly out and end the game.
Anderson would earn his seventh win after throwing 7.1 innings. He gave up one run on four hits while walking two batters and striking out six. Hering earned his sixth save after he threw 1.2 innings with one walk and two strikeouts.
Fehribach was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
Seven of FGCU's nine batters had one hit each.
With the loss, Lipscomb would be the third team eliminated from the tournament and FGCU will face Kennesaw in a rematch. Earlier, KSU lost to JU 8-4 in the winners bracket and ended up in the losers bracket.
With three teams remaining, Jacksonville awaits the winner between FGCU and KSU for the championship game. If either FGCU or KSU beat Jacksonville in the championship game, they would play JU a second time since JU did not lose throughout the whole tournament.
From the matchup with FGCU and KSU again, FGCU will send redshirt junior Mario Leon (4-2, 4.32 ERA) to face redshirt freshman Nathan Dupree (1-5, 10.87 ERA).
FGCU Baseball: Conference Tournament Update 1
The A-SUN Conference Baseball Tournament was initially suppose to start at 11 A.M., but after a very strong rain delay, the tournament went underway at 1:15 P.M.
The first game was No. 1 Jacksonville against No. 6 Lipscomb. JU was ahead of Lipscomb 3-2 going into the fifth inning, but once again, the rain came down hard. After a six and a half hour delay, the game resumed at 7 pm. JU would end up winning the game 8-2 and send Lipscomb to the losers bracket.
"Matt Meyer coming in with a runner on first and the top of the lineup, battling through those top three hitters for Lipscomb was a huge lift for us," said JU Head Coach Chris Hayes. "The way the A-SUN handled this delay was commendable. You never really expect a game to start at 11 a.m. and end at 8 p.m., but I was really proud of the way the guys came out and competed from the first pitch at 11, and then at the restart at 7 p.m."
“This was such an odd game,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand said. “We got some good pitching from Jeffrey Passantino to begin the game, but unfortunately for us the weather forced us to make a change."
“Late in the game we made some good defensive plays to keep the game close, but we just could never find a way to push some runs across, even with the bases loaded. Give Jacksonville credit, they did a good job of limiting our threat.”
The FGCU and UNF was suppose to start at 3 pm, but because of the rain, they started at 9 P.M.
On the mound for FGCU was junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Kutter Crawford (6-1, 1.76 ERA). Crawford would face A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Cooper Bradford (1-3, 2.57 ERA).
At the top of first inning, Crawford started off strong with a strikeout to senior A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Patrick Ervin. After giving up a triple to junior A-SUN All-Conference First Team member, Yahir Gurrola, Crawford was able to get senior A-SUN All-Conference Second Team member Chris Thibideau, and senior A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Alex Merritt to groundout to end the top of the inning.
At the top of the second, Crawford got into a bases loaded situation. After striking out the first batter, Crawford gave up a single and a walk before striking out the second batter. Then after walking the next batter to load the bases, Crawford got Ervin to groundout to end the inning.
FGCU's bats would soon wake up in the bottom of the second. After junior Eli Lovell struck out, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year Richie Garcia started with a single and advanced to second after a failed pickoff attempt. Junior Matt Reardon would hit a single to advance Garcia to third while fellow A-SUN All-Freshman Team member, Marc Coffers, would drive in Garcia on a single for the first run before sophomore Jake Smith grounded out into a double play to end the inning.
By the third inning, FGCU would strike again as junior Spencer Levine would lead off with a single. After junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez, walked, redshirt junior Gage Morey hit a bunt single to load the bases. It left a big scoring opportunity for A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and the A-SUN Player of the Year Nick Rivera. Rivera, however, would hit an infield fly for the first out. After Lovell struck out, Garcia would bring in the second run of the game with a bases loaded walk to drive in Levine and increased the lead to 2-0.
Bradford would exit the game and senior A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Tyler Dupont (1-0, 3.50 ERA), would come in to finish the rest of the inning and strike out Reardon to end the third.
In the bottom of the fourth, Coffers would have his time to shine. The freshman hit a leadoff solo home run to left to increase the score to 3-0. The home run was Coffer's fifth of the year. After Smith and Levine hit back-to-back singles, Gonzalez would walk again to load the bases for Morey. Morey would pop out for the first out.
UNF would once again change pitchers and head coach Smoke Laval would bring in redshirt senior Austin Howze. Howze (3-3, 3.57 ERA) would get Rivera to ground into a double play to end the inning.
The fifth and sixth inning were quiet for the moment, but the Eagles would strike again. Coffers lead off with a single and steal second. After Smith flew out and moved Coffers from second to third, Levine struck out and then Coffers would score the fourth and final run on a wild pitch.
In the ninth inning, redshirt junior Kenton Hering (6-3, 2.28 ERA) would enter in for Crawford in a non-save situation. Hering would strikeout Thibideau and have Merritt lineout. After walking the third batter, Hering would get redshirt senior Christian Diaz to strike out and end the inning.
"That first one is always a big one," said head coach Dave Tollett. "But so are all the others when you get to this point in the season. Kutter was phenomenal on the mound tonight. It took him a couple innings to settle in, but he was almost unhittable once he did. Our offense continued to swing the bats well with 10 more hits, but we even left some runs out there by missing out on some scoring opportunities. It feels good to start out the week with a win. We're just taking this thing one game at a time."
Crawford would be credited with his seventh win after throwing eight scoreless innings, giving up three hits, walk two batters and strike out 10. Hering threw one scoreless inning and walked one batter and strike out two. Hering threw one scoreless inning, walked one batter and strike out two.
Coffers was 3-for-3 with two singles, one home run, two RBIs and two runs scored, Levine and Reardon had two hits each and Garcia was 1-for-3 with a single, one RBI, a walk and one run scored. Rivera went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
UNF will play conference and intercity rival JU at 4:30 pm in the losers bracket.
Due to the long weather delay, the game between No. 5 Kennesaw and tournament host and defending champions No. 2 Stetson was rescheduled on Thursday morning. I found out that day that Kennesaw won against Stetson 10-5. Stetson would end up in the losers bracket and face Lipscomb at 1 pm.
"We gave up a lot of runs today with two outs, and that is really out of character for this team," Stetson head coach Trimper said. "We didn't play within our character. This team has been so strong on the mound, especially with two outs, bulldogging it out. We didn't lose our fight, the guys continued to grind, we just didn't execute baseball plays and baseball pitches like we have been.
"There were just so many things that were uncharacteristic of us and it goes to show you that no one in life is perfect. We have to always learn from our mistakes, and this is a microcosm of that. We have some unbelievable talent on this team and I am so proud of them, but we just didn't execute today when it was important."
FGCU will play Kennesaw at 7:45 pm on Thursday night.
The first game was No. 1 Jacksonville against No. 6 Lipscomb. JU was ahead of Lipscomb 3-2 going into the fifth inning, but once again, the rain came down hard. After a six and a half hour delay, the game resumed at 7 pm. JU would end up winning the game 8-2 and send Lipscomb to the losers bracket.
"Matt Meyer coming in with a runner on first and the top of the lineup, battling through those top three hitters for Lipscomb was a huge lift for us," said JU Head Coach Chris Hayes. "The way the A-SUN handled this delay was commendable. You never really expect a game to start at 11 a.m. and end at 8 p.m., but I was really proud of the way the guys came out and competed from the first pitch at 11, and then at the restart at 7 p.m."
“This was such an odd game,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand said. “We got some good pitching from Jeffrey Passantino to begin the game, but unfortunately for us the weather forced us to make a change."
“Late in the game we made some good defensive plays to keep the game close, but we just could never find a way to push some runs across, even with the bases loaded. Give Jacksonville credit, they did a good job of limiting our threat.”
The FGCU and UNF was suppose to start at 3 pm, but because of the rain, they started at 9 P.M.
On the mound for FGCU was junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Kutter Crawford (6-1, 1.76 ERA). Crawford would face A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Cooper Bradford (1-3, 2.57 ERA).
At the top of first inning, Crawford started off strong with a strikeout to senior A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Patrick Ervin. After giving up a triple to junior A-SUN All-Conference First Team member, Yahir Gurrola, Crawford was able to get senior A-SUN All-Conference Second Team member Chris Thibideau, and senior A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Alex Merritt to groundout to end the top of the inning.
At the top of the second, Crawford got into a bases loaded situation. After striking out the first batter, Crawford gave up a single and a walk before striking out the second batter. Then after walking the next batter to load the bases, Crawford got Ervin to groundout to end the inning.
FGCU's bats would soon wake up in the bottom of the second. After junior Eli Lovell struck out, A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and A-SUN Freshman of the Year Richie Garcia started with a single and advanced to second after a failed pickoff attempt. Junior Matt Reardon would hit a single to advance Garcia to third while fellow A-SUN All-Freshman Team member, Marc Coffers, would drive in Garcia on a single for the first run before sophomore Jake Smith grounded out into a double play to end the inning.
By the third inning, FGCU would strike again as junior Spencer Levine would lead off with a single. After junior A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Julio Gonzalez, walked, redshirt junior Gage Morey hit a bunt single to load the bases. It left a big scoring opportunity for A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and the A-SUN Player of the Year Nick Rivera. Rivera, however, would hit an infield fly for the first out. After Lovell struck out, Garcia would bring in the second run of the game with a bases loaded walk to drive in Levine and increased the lead to 2-0.
Bradford would exit the game and senior A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Tyler Dupont (1-0, 3.50 ERA), would come in to finish the rest of the inning and strike out Reardon to end the third.
In the bottom of the fourth, Coffers would have his time to shine. The freshman hit a leadoff solo home run to left to increase the score to 3-0. The home run was Coffer's fifth of the year. After Smith and Levine hit back-to-back singles, Gonzalez would walk again to load the bases for Morey. Morey would pop out for the first out.
UNF would once again change pitchers and head coach Smoke Laval would bring in redshirt senior Austin Howze. Howze (3-3, 3.57 ERA) would get Rivera to ground into a double play to end the inning.
The fifth and sixth inning were quiet for the moment, but the Eagles would strike again. Coffers lead off with a single and steal second. After Smith flew out and moved Coffers from second to third, Levine struck out and then Coffers would score the fourth and final run on a wild pitch.
In the ninth inning, redshirt junior Kenton Hering (6-3, 2.28 ERA) would enter in for Crawford in a non-save situation. Hering would strikeout Thibideau and have Merritt lineout. After walking the third batter, Hering would get redshirt senior Christian Diaz to strike out and end the inning.
"That first one is always a big one," said head coach Dave Tollett. "But so are all the others when you get to this point in the season. Kutter was phenomenal on the mound tonight. It took him a couple innings to settle in, but he was almost unhittable once he did. Our offense continued to swing the bats well with 10 more hits, but we even left some runs out there by missing out on some scoring opportunities. It feels good to start out the week with a win. We're just taking this thing one game at a time."
Crawford would be credited with his seventh win after throwing eight scoreless innings, giving up three hits, walk two batters and strike out 10. Hering threw one scoreless inning and walked one batter and strike out two. Hering threw one scoreless inning, walked one batter and strike out two.
Coffers was 3-for-3 with two singles, one home run, two RBIs and two runs scored, Levine and Reardon had two hits each and Garcia was 1-for-3 with a single, one RBI, a walk and one run scored. Rivera went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
UNF will play conference and intercity rival JU at 4:30 pm in the losers bracket.
Due to the long weather delay, the game between No. 5 Kennesaw and tournament host and defending champions No. 2 Stetson was rescheduled on Thursday morning. I found out that day that Kennesaw won against Stetson 10-5. Stetson would end up in the losers bracket and face Lipscomb at 1 pm.
"We gave up a lot of runs today with two outs, and that is really out of character for this team," Stetson head coach Trimper said. "We didn't play within our character. This team has been so strong on the mound, especially with two outs, bulldogging it out. We didn't lose our fight, the guys continued to grind, we just didn't execute baseball plays and baseball pitches like we have been.
"There were just so many things that were uncharacteristic of us and it goes to show you that no one in life is perfect. We have to always learn from our mistakes, and this is a microcosm of that. We have some unbelievable talent on this team and I am so proud of them, but we just didn't execute today when it was important."
FGCU will play Kennesaw at 7:45 pm on Thursday night.
FGCU Baseball: A-SUN Conference Tournament Preview
Throughout the season, the FGCU baseball team has had ups and downs, but managed to fight through. FGCU (37-17, 13-8 A-SUN) now readies themselves to the next task: the A-SUN Conference Tournament.
The Standings for the tournament are the order of the seeds by overall and conference record:
#1 Jacksonville (33-22, 16-5 A-SUN)
#2 Stetson (27-27, 15-6 A-SUN)
#3 FGCU (37-17, 13-8 A-SUN)
#4 North Florida (33-22, 12-9 A-SUN)
#5 Kennesaw State (23-30, 10-11 A-SUN)
#6 Lipscomb (27-26, 9-12 A-SUN)
USC Upstate (24-31, 7-14 A-SUN) and NJIT (9-40, 2-19 A-SUN) were not eligible to be in the tournament due to their conference records, although it is no surprise to me that NJIT would be out. Since they joined the A-SUN, NJIT's overall record in two seasons is 26-76 overall, and 4-37 in conference.
Season Breakdown:
In the beginning of the season, FGCU started 7-2 in the first nine home games (3-1 Sacred Heart, 1-0 Eastern Michigan, 2-1 Bethune-Cookman and 1-0 FAU). After that, they went on their first road trip sweeping UNC Wilmington in three games before coming back to face then No. 2 UF (now No. 4) at their secondary home field, JetBlue Park, and won 7-3 before heading back to Gainsville and winning 3-2 to complete the sweep.
Since winning two straight games against Bethune-Cookman, they started a 10-game winning streak beating FAU, UNCW and UF before falling 5-4 to Ohio State in the series finale. They would restart their winning streak by beating the No. 1 Florida State 5-2. From there, the Eagles won 10 straight games again after sweeping Rutgers and Jackson State in three games each, then No. 21 USF, and Miami. The 10-game winning streak tied as the second longest winning streak since 2013 and the longest winning streak since 2009.
During conference play, FGCU faced JU to open conference. They would win the first game 4-0 to make it 10 straight wins, but then things were not looking good after the first conference game. In the second game against JU, an altercation between sophomore pitcher Chris Gau and junior Julio Gonzalez occurred. Gau, unassumingly, threw a pitch at Gonzalez when the umpire called timeout causing ruckus between the two benches.
Now from an unbiased view, I don't think Gau meant to throw at Gonzalez because he probably didn't hear the umpire say timeout. Nevertheless, FGCU would lose the second game 10-5 and ended FGCU's winning streak, but the third game was even worse. In the top of the eighth inning of the third game, JU had the bases loaded and redshirt junior Chris Lehane set up a double play after lining out to left and junior Sam Armstrong was tagged out at home by junior catcher Spencer Levine. Words were exchanged between Levine and Armstrong causing both benches to clear and a fight broke out. Five players were ejected from the game (three from FGCU and two from JU). FGCU would lose 5-2 in 11 innings.
They would lose 5 straight games before finally beating Stetson 4-2 in the second game and beat Miami 5-4 two games later. After winning the series at home against Upstate, FGCU would lose another six straight games including being swept by FIU at home and away, swept by UNF at UNF and losing 1-13 to FAU at FAU. This was tied as the longest losing streak they've had since the 2011 season.
Hoping to recover and snap their losing streak, the Eagles went on the road against NJIT. In the first game, I thought if FGCU loses to NJIT, then there is going to be some problems. The first game was a close one, but FGCU managed to win 7-5 in 10 innings. In the second game, the Eagles scored 20 runs, the most since 2014 when they played former A-SUN Conference member Northern Kentucky. During that 20 run game, seven home runs were hit, which was a program-record. The Eagles swept NJIT and Lipscomb before falling to Miami and finishing with a three game sweep to Kennesaw.
FGCU is listed as the #3 seed in the conference and will play #4 UNF to begin the tournament.
Leading the charge offensively for FGCU is redshirt senior first baseman Nick Rivera. Rivera is batting .308 and currently leads the team in home runs (16), RBIs (54), runs scored (46), walks (51) and total bases (118). During the season and throughout his career, Rivera has set six records for FGCU, the A-SUN and the NCAA: career games played (241, nation's best), career games started (236), career RBIs (214), career doubles (71), career total bases (478), and career home runs (42, A-SUN best 16 home runs). Rivera also leads the nation in career walks (171).
Also joining the offensive fray is junior Julio Gonzalez as well as classmates Eli Lovell and Matt Reardon, redshirt junior Gage Morey and freshman Richie Garcia.
Gonzalez, a transfer from NJCAA Seminole State College (OK), is batting a team-leading .342 batting average with five home runs, 36 RBIs and leads the team with 76 hits.
Lovell, a transfer from NJCAA Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC), is batting .291 with six home runs and 37 RBIs. Lovell also leads the team in doubles (15).
Reardon is batting .280 with one home run and 31 RBIs, but is a potential threat in base-running with nine stolen bases.
Morey is batting .295 with two home runs and 23 RBIs. Morey leads the team in stolen bases (11).
Garcia is batting .277 and is tied with Lovell with six home runs and has 32 RBIs.
Pitching wise, junior Kutter Crawford, redshirt sophomore Josh Dye, redshirt junior Kenton Hering and seniors Garrett Anderson and Sterling Koerner lead the fray for FGCU.
Crawford, a transfer from NJCAA Indian River State College, is currently 6-1 with a 1.71 ERA. Crawford currently leads the team with 81 strikeouts. Crawford's most recent start was against Kennesaw where threw five innings while giving up one run on two hits, walking two and striking out four batters.
Dye is 8-3 with a 3.32 ERA and has gone back and forth between being a starter and reliever. Dye's most recent start ended in a no decision in a win against Kennesaw where he threw 4.2 innings and giving up five runs on five hits while walking one and striking out six batters.
Herring is mainly used as the set-up man from the bullpen. He is currently 6-3 with a 2.32 ERA. In 50.1 innings, Hering has given up 19 runs on 48 hits while walking 16 and striking out 62 batters. He is also credited with four saves in the season.
Anderson is 6-1 with a 3.72 ERA and in 67.2 innings, he has given up 31 runs on 76 hits while walking 19 and striking out 55.
Koerner is mainly the closer for the Eagles. In the series against JU, he struggled severely, but returned as the closer afterwards. Despite going 2-3 on the season, he leads the team with 12 saves.
Scouting UNF:
Players to keep an eye on are junior Yahir Gurrola, senior Chris Thibideau, and sophomores Austin Drury and Frank German.
Gurrola is batting .322 and leads the team with nine home runs and 50 RBIs. Gurrola also is credited with 10 stolen bases.
Thibideau is batting .325 with seven home runs and 35 RBIs. Thibideau leads the team with 14 stolen bases.
On the mound, the duo of Drury and German combine a 14-3 record (German is 8-1 and Drury is 6-2). German leads the team with 71 strikeouts while Drury has 61 strikeouts.
Award Winners:
Before the tournament begins, the A-SUN released the award winners and members of the conference teams. FGCU landed nine awards and seven of the players earned conference team honors:
Crawford, Gonzalez and Rivera tabbed A-SUN First Team All-Conference honors.
Garcia was named A-SUN Freshman of the Year, and along with his fellow freshman teammates, Alex Brait and Marc Coffers, was named on the A-SUN All-Freshman Team.
Rivera was named A-SUN Player of the Year to go with his A-SUN All-Conference First Team honors.
Senior Corey Fehribach was the lone player to be named on the A-SUN All-Academic Team.
The tournament will start at 11 am with #1 JU playing #6 Lipscomb. #3 FGCU will play #4 UNF at 3 pm and #2 Stetson will play #5 Kennesaw at 7 pm.
The tournament will take place and hosted by defending champions Stetson at Conrad Park in Deland, Florida.
Already noted, six teams have already punched their tickets and won an automatic bid to the national tournament and are going to certain regionals:
Long Beach State (Big West Conference)
Yale (Ivy League)
Bethune-Cookman (MEAC)
Oregon State (Pac 12)
Holy Cross (Patriot)
Texas Southern (SAC).
The question is this: Will Stetson defend their championship or will a new team represent the A-SUN? The question will be answered in the next two to three days.
The Standings for the tournament are the order of the seeds by overall and conference record:
#1 Jacksonville (33-22, 16-5 A-SUN)
#2 Stetson (27-27, 15-6 A-SUN)
#3 FGCU (37-17, 13-8 A-SUN)
#4 North Florida (33-22, 12-9 A-SUN)
#5 Kennesaw State (23-30, 10-11 A-SUN)
#6 Lipscomb (27-26, 9-12 A-SUN)
USC Upstate (24-31, 7-14 A-SUN) and NJIT (9-40, 2-19 A-SUN) were not eligible to be in the tournament due to their conference records, although it is no surprise to me that NJIT would be out. Since they joined the A-SUN, NJIT's overall record in two seasons is 26-76 overall, and 4-37 in conference.
Season Breakdown:
In the beginning of the season, FGCU started 7-2 in the first nine home games (3-1 Sacred Heart, 1-0 Eastern Michigan, 2-1 Bethune-Cookman and 1-0 FAU). After that, they went on their first road trip sweeping UNC Wilmington in three games before coming back to face then No. 2 UF (now No. 4) at their secondary home field, JetBlue Park, and won 7-3 before heading back to Gainsville and winning 3-2 to complete the sweep.
Since winning two straight games against Bethune-Cookman, they started a 10-game winning streak beating FAU, UNCW and UF before falling 5-4 to Ohio State in the series finale. They would restart their winning streak by beating the No. 1 Florida State 5-2. From there, the Eagles won 10 straight games again after sweeping Rutgers and Jackson State in three games each, then No. 21 USF, and Miami. The 10-game winning streak tied as the second longest winning streak since 2013 and the longest winning streak since 2009.
During conference play, FGCU faced JU to open conference. They would win the first game 4-0 to make it 10 straight wins, but then things were not looking good after the first conference game. In the second game against JU, an altercation between sophomore pitcher Chris Gau and junior Julio Gonzalez occurred. Gau, unassumingly, threw a pitch at Gonzalez when the umpire called timeout causing ruckus between the two benches.
Now from an unbiased view, I don't think Gau meant to throw at Gonzalez because he probably didn't hear the umpire say timeout. Nevertheless, FGCU would lose the second game 10-5 and ended FGCU's winning streak, but the third game was even worse. In the top of the eighth inning of the third game, JU had the bases loaded and redshirt junior Chris Lehane set up a double play after lining out to left and junior Sam Armstrong was tagged out at home by junior catcher Spencer Levine. Words were exchanged between Levine and Armstrong causing both benches to clear and a fight broke out. Five players were ejected from the game (three from FGCU and two from JU). FGCU would lose 5-2 in 11 innings.
They would lose 5 straight games before finally beating Stetson 4-2 in the second game and beat Miami 5-4 two games later. After winning the series at home against Upstate, FGCU would lose another six straight games including being swept by FIU at home and away, swept by UNF at UNF and losing 1-13 to FAU at FAU. This was tied as the longest losing streak they've had since the 2011 season.
Hoping to recover and snap their losing streak, the Eagles went on the road against NJIT. In the first game, I thought if FGCU loses to NJIT, then there is going to be some problems. The first game was a close one, but FGCU managed to win 7-5 in 10 innings. In the second game, the Eagles scored 20 runs, the most since 2014 when they played former A-SUN Conference member Northern Kentucky. During that 20 run game, seven home runs were hit, which was a program-record. The Eagles swept NJIT and Lipscomb before falling to Miami and finishing with a three game sweep to Kennesaw.
FGCU is listed as the #3 seed in the conference and will play #4 UNF to begin the tournament.
Leading the charge offensively for FGCU is redshirt senior first baseman Nick Rivera. Rivera is batting .308 and currently leads the team in home runs (16), RBIs (54), runs scored (46), walks (51) and total bases (118). During the season and throughout his career, Rivera has set six records for FGCU, the A-SUN and the NCAA: career games played (241, nation's best), career games started (236), career RBIs (214), career doubles (71), career total bases (478), and career home runs (42, A-SUN best 16 home runs). Rivera also leads the nation in career walks (171).
Also joining the offensive fray is junior Julio Gonzalez as well as classmates Eli Lovell and Matt Reardon, redshirt junior Gage Morey and freshman Richie Garcia.
Gonzalez, a transfer from NJCAA Seminole State College (OK), is batting a team-leading .342 batting average with five home runs, 36 RBIs and leads the team with 76 hits.
Lovell, a transfer from NJCAA Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC), is batting .291 with six home runs and 37 RBIs. Lovell also leads the team in doubles (15).
Reardon is batting .280 with one home run and 31 RBIs, but is a potential threat in base-running with nine stolen bases.
Morey is batting .295 with two home runs and 23 RBIs. Morey leads the team in stolen bases (11).
Garcia is batting .277 and is tied with Lovell with six home runs and has 32 RBIs.
Pitching wise, junior Kutter Crawford, redshirt sophomore Josh Dye, redshirt junior Kenton Hering and seniors Garrett Anderson and Sterling Koerner lead the fray for FGCU.
Crawford, a transfer from NJCAA Indian River State College, is currently 6-1 with a 1.71 ERA. Crawford currently leads the team with 81 strikeouts. Crawford's most recent start was against Kennesaw where threw five innings while giving up one run on two hits, walking two and striking out four batters.
Dye is 8-3 with a 3.32 ERA and has gone back and forth between being a starter and reliever. Dye's most recent start ended in a no decision in a win against Kennesaw where he threw 4.2 innings and giving up five runs on five hits while walking one and striking out six batters.
Herring is mainly used as the set-up man from the bullpen. He is currently 6-3 with a 2.32 ERA. In 50.1 innings, Hering has given up 19 runs on 48 hits while walking 16 and striking out 62 batters. He is also credited with four saves in the season.
Anderson is 6-1 with a 3.72 ERA and in 67.2 innings, he has given up 31 runs on 76 hits while walking 19 and striking out 55.
Koerner is mainly the closer for the Eagles. In the series against JU, he struggled severely, but returned as the closer afterwards. Despite going 2-3 on the season, he leads the team with 12 saves.
Scouting UNF:
Players to keep an eye on are junior Yahir Gurrola, senior Chris Thibideau, and sophomores Austin Drury and Frank German.
Gurrola is batting .322 and leads the team with nine home runs and 50 RBIs. Gurrola also is credited with 10 stolen bases.
Thibideau is batting .325 with seven home runs and 35 RBIs. Thibideau leads the team with 14 stolen bases.
On the mound, the duo of Drury and German combine a 14-3 record (German is 8-1 and Drury is 6-2). German leads the team with 71 strikeouts while Drury has 61 strikeouts.
Award Winners:
Before the tournament begins, the A-SUN released the award winners and members of the conference teams. FGCU landed nine awards and seven of the players earned conference team honors:
Crawford, Gonzalez and Rivera tabbed A-SUN First Team All-Conference honors.
Garcia was named A-SUN Freshman of the Year, and along with his fellow freshman teammates, Alex Brait and Marc Coffers, was named on the A-SUN All-Freshman Team.
Rivera was named A-SUN Player of the Year to go with his A-SUN All-Conference First Team honors.
Senior Corey Fehribach was the lone player to be named on the A-SUN All-Academic Team.
The tournament will start at 11 am with #1 JU playing #6 Lipscomb. #3 FGCU will play #4 UNF at 3 pm and #2 Stetson will play #5 Kennesaw at 7 pm.
The tournament will take place and hosted by defending champions Stetson at Conrad Park in Deland, Florida.
Already noted, six teams have already punched their tickets and won an automatic bid to the national tournament and are going to certain regionals:
Long Beach State (Big West Conference)
Yale (Ivy League)
Bethune-Cookman (MEAC)
Oregon State (Pac 12)
Holy Cross (Patriot)
Texas Southern (SAC).
The question is this: Will Stetson defend their championship or will a new team represent the A-SUN? The question will be answered in the next two to three days.
FGCU Baseball vs Miami Preview
The FGCU baseball will somewhat have another hurdle in their season in the Miami Hurricanes. After a three-game sweep over Jackson State, FGCU (22-3) looks to extend their winning streak to nine games.
Still leading the pavement on the offensive side is redshirt senior Nick Rivera. Rivera is only four games away from breaking the all-time program record in career games played and is three RBIs away from breaking the program record in RBIs. Rivera still leads the team in home runs (5).
Head coach Dave Tollett will send Mario Leon (2-1, 3.33 ERA) to pitch against Miami. Leon's last start was against USF. He earned the win after throwing six innings, giving up one run on eight hits with eight strikeouts.
Miami (11-13, 4-5 ACC) already started conference and recently faced conference rival UNC. The Hurricanes lost two of the games to UNC.
The Hurricanes will send freshman Greg Veliz (2-1, 2.70) to face Leon. Veliz's last start was against FAU in non-conference play. Veliz threw 5.2 innings, giving up one run on three hits, walking two and striking out seven.
Offensively, Romy Gonzalez leads the team with five home runs and 19 RBIs.
Overall, Miami leads FGCU 16-2 in the series between the two teams. Last time FGCU beat Miami in the series was in 2015 where they won 8-1 when Miami was No. 13 in the nation.
The game starts at 6:30 pm and it is a blueout, so marketing is encouraging fans that attend the game to wear blue at the game.
Head coach Dave Tollett will send Mario Leon (2-1, 3.33 ERA) to pitch against Miami. Leon's last start was against USF. He earned the win after throwing six innings, giving up one run on eight hits with eight strikeouts.
Miami (11-13, 4-5 ACC) already started conference and recently faced conference rival UNC. The Hurricanes lost two of the games to UNC.
The Hurricanes will send freshman Greg Veliz (2-1, 2.70) to face Leon. Veliz's last start was against FAU in non-conference play. Veliz threw 5.2 innings, giving up one run on three hits, walking two and striking out seven.
Offensively, Romy Gonzalez leads the team with five home runs and 19 RBIs.
Overall, Miami leads FGCU 16-2 in the series between the two teams. Last time FGCU beat Miami in the series was in 2015 where they won 8-1 when Miami was No. 13 in the nation.
The game starts at 6:30 pm and it is a blueout, so marketing is encouraging fans that attend the game to wear blue at the game.
FGCU Baseball vs. USF preview
The FGCU baseball team set themselves up for a matchup with USF. The Eagles (18-3) had just recently finished up a three game series last weekend with a sweep over Rutgers University (Gm 1 5-2; Gm 2 13-4; Gm 3 8-3).
According to the NCAA via Baseball America, FGCU is ranked 12th in the nation, which was the best start in the program's history. But how did they go from being not ranked to now being ranked 12th in the nation? Put it this way: Not many unranked teams are able to beat top five baseball teams in the nation and are able to brag about it.
FGCU first beat then No. 2 and now No. 13 Florida twice. They first beat UF at "home," and when I mean "home," I mean at Jetblue Park because Swanson Stadium is too small to hold 2,000 plus people. FGCU beat UF 7-3. Hoping for a rematch, the Gators played the Eagles at their home and had a chance to beat, but a diving catch by redshirt junior outfielder Gage Morey saved FGCU and the Eagles won 3-2, thus sweeping the Gators.
FGCU were continued with a 10-game winning streak that started since February 25th when they played Bethune-Cookman before falling to unranked Ohio State on March 12th. FGCU then played the No. 1 team in the nation: Florida State. It looked like FSU would beat FGCU, but the Eagles would win 5-2.
FGCU is lead by head coach Dave Tollett, who is entering his 15th season. During the last game of the series against UNC-Wilmington, Tollett earned his 500th win as head coach for FGCU
Players on FGCU to keep a sharp lookout for are redshirt junior Mario Leon, junior Julio Gonzalez, redshirt senior Nick Rivera and senior Sterling Koerner.
Leon, a right handed pitcher, will be getting the start against USF. Leon is 1-1 with a 3.93 ERA. His most recent start was against FSU. In a no decision, he threw four innings, giving up two runs on four hits and threw four walks and five strikeouts.
Gonzalez, a transfer from Seminole State College in Oklahoma, is currently batting .365 with two home runs and eight RBIs. Gonzalez also hit the first cycle in FGCU history.
Rivera holds the career record for doubles and is in the top ten in the following categories: career games played (208), career games started (203), hits (237), runs scored (143), RBI (177), home runs (31) and career total bases (400). Rivera is only four RBIs away from breaking the career RBI record held jointly by Zach Maxfield and Tim Roberson. His best game most recently was against Rutgers when he went 4-for-5 with drove in a program high nine RBIs (two home runs, a single and a triple)
Korener has been mainly used as a closer and has six saves for the team.
Scouting #21 USF:
According to the NCAA via Baseball America, FGCU is ranked 12th in the nation, which was the best start in the program's history. But how did they go from being not ranked to now being ranked 12th in the nation? Put it this way: Not many unranked teams are able to beat top five baseball teams in the nation and are able to brag about it.
FGCU first beat then No. 2 and now No. 13 Florida twice. They first beat UF at "home," and when I mean "home," I mean at Jetblue Park because Swanson Stadium is too small to hold 2,000 plus people. FGCU beat UF 7-3. Hoping for a rematch, the Gators played the Eagles at their home and had a chance to beat, but a diving catch by redshirt junior outfielder Gage Morey saved FGCU and the Eagles won 3-2, thus sweeping the Gators.
FGCU were continued with a 10-game winning streak that started since February 25th when they played Bethune-Cookman before falling to unranked Ohio State on March 12th. FGCU then played the No. 1 team in the nation: Florida State. It looked like FSU would beat FGCU, but the Eagles would win 5-2.
FGCU is lead by head coach Dave Tollett, who is entering his 15th season. During the last game of the series against UNC-Wilmington, Tollett earned his 500th win as head coach for FGCU
Players on FGCU to keep a sharp lookout for are redshirt junior Mario Leon, junior Julio Gonzalez, redshirt senior Nick Rivera and senior Sterling Koerner.
Leon, a right handed pitcher, will be getting the start against USF. Leon is 1-1 with a 3.93 ERA. His most recent start was against FSU. In a no decision, he threw four innings, giving up two runs on four hits and threw four walks and five strikeouts.
Gonzalez, a transfer from Seminole State College in Oklahoma, is currently batting .365 with two home runs and eight RBIs. Gonzalez also hit the first cycle in FGCU history.
Rivera holds the career record for doubles and is in the top ten in the following categories: career games played (208), career games started (203), hits (237), runs scored (143), RBI (177), home runs (31) and career total bases (400). Rivera is only four RBIs away from breaking the career RBI record held jointly by Zach Maxfield and Tim Roberson. His best game most recently was against Rutgers when he went 4-for-5 with drove in a program high nine RBIs (two home runs, a single and a triple)
Korener has been mainly used as a closer and has six saves for the team.
Scouting #21 USF:
USF (19-1) is No. 21 team in the nation and most recently faced UNF and won by a score of 7-3. The Bulls had sweeps over Harvard, Miami (OH), Toledo and Valparaiso as well. The Bulls are on a 18-game winning streak, which is the third longest winning streak in the nation.
Taking the mound for USF is redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Peter Strzelecki. Strzelecki (1-0, 1.15) in 15.2 innings gave up 12 hits, six runs, 9 walks and struck out 18 batters.
Batting wise, sophomore David Villar is the lead power bat for the team with four home runs and 28 RBIs.
To go off topic a bit, personally, I have a fix with the game: "Why?" people would ask. The answer is I know someone on the team I went to school with at my junior college, and sometimes when I go to any of the athletic events, I get a little weary, not because of the game, but because any fan would heckle my friends too harshly. Of course, this was not my first rodeo with the situation. One example would be last year when someone I knew from my junior college and they played volleyball for FAU, I got really weary and didn't know what to do, so I asked a coach who she played for and she understood and it was a tough call because I have two alma maters, but she told me to stick with my school, and that is exactly what I did from that point on.
The game starts 6:30 p.m. and it is a blue out, so marketing is encouraging fans to wear blue during the game.
Taking the mound for USF is redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Peter Strzelecki. Strzelecki (1-0, 1.15) in 15.2 innings gave up 12 hits, six runs, 9 walks and struck out 18 batters.
Batting wise, sophomore David Villar is the lead power bat for the team with four home runs and 28 RBIs.
To go off topic a bit, personally, I have a fix with the game: "Why?" people would ask. The answer is I know someone on the team I went to school with at my junior college, and sometimes when I go to any of the athletic events, I get a little weary, not because of the game, but because any fan would heckle my friends too harshly. Of course, this was not my first rodeo with the situation. One example would be last year when someone I knew from my junior college and they played volleyball for FAU, I got really weary and didn't know what to do, so I asked a coach who she played for and she understood and it was a tough call because I have two alma maters, but she told me to stick with my school, and that is exactly what I did from that point on.
The game starts 6:30 p.m. and it is a blue out, so marketing is encouraging fans to wear blue during the game.
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