Baseball Falls on the Road to #7 Miami
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – In a rare down offensive night, the FGCU baseball team fell to #7 Miami, 5-2, Tuesday evening at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. The Eagles fall to 20-9 while the Hurricanes improve to 22-6.
“I thought we had some chances early,” said head coach Dave Tollett. “When you play Miami, you’ve got to put pressure on them and we were unable to do that. We only had three runners left on base, so we were unable to apply much pressure all night. [Alex] McFarlane came in and did a nice job and really, their whole bullpen was impressive”
The Eagles had two hits to lead off the game and a home run from junior Luis Rodriguez (Guarenas, Venezuela/Miami Christian HS/Santa Fe College/Dyersburg State), but that was all they could manage against some of Miami’s top pitchers.
Miami pitcher Jordan Dubberly got the start and earned the win while five relievers threw one inning each and combined to allow just one baserunner.
Junior Tyler Tipton (Tampa, Fla./Gaither HS/South Florida State) suffered his first loss of the season to drop to 2-1. Four relievers pitched out of the pen for the Eagles, highlighted by junior Darien Smith‘s (Jacksonville, Fla./University Christian HS/Eastern Florida State College/Jacksonville) four strikeouts in two innings.
The Eagles jumped out to an early lead as redshirt-junior Brian Ellis (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty HS) and sophomore Ian Farrow (Merritt Island, Fla./Merritt Island HS) both singled to lead off the game before Ellis came into score on a sacrifice fly by junior Joe Kinker (North Port, Fla./Venice HS).
Miami responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead before adding a run in the second.
Rodriguez got the Eagles back within one in the fourth as he hit a towering home run just over the left-field wall. It is his second-straight game with a home run and third overall this season.
That was all the offense the Eagles could muster the rest of the game as they had just one more baserunner on the night when Ellis was hit by a pitch in the fifth.
The Hurricanes added insurance runs in the sixth and eighth to produce the final score.
The Eagles will have to bounce back quickly as they have an important ASUN series this weekend when they travel to Lynchburg to take on Liberty. First pitch on Friday evening is set for 6 p.m.
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COACH TOLLETT
FGCU coach Dave Tollett currently owns a 656-394-3 overall record (.623) and a 218-117 (.647) record in the ASUN. He is the only head coach in the program’s history and led the program to its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2017. He is a five-time ASUN Coach of the Year and has guided the Green and Blue to five ASUN Regular Season Championships and one ASUN Tournament Championship. His team has been ranked nationally on several occasions, including as high as No. 9 in the country in 2017, and has coached 58 all-conference selections, 33 draft picks, three current major leaguers, 13 current minor leaguers, four ASUN Pitchers of the Year, four All-Americans, three ASUN Players of the Year, one National Freshman Player of the Year, one National Player of the Year and one seven-time MLB All-Star.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal – a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign – Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics’ charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 89 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 10 seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 43 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women’s basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men’s soccer (2018, 2019) and women’s soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors’ Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA’s Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 25 consecutive semesters. The past five semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2021) each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
