FGCU baseball team wins third straight
Special to the Breeze
The FGCU baseball team celebrated Senior Day on Sunday, rode a great start by senior Nick Deckert and poured on 12 runs in the series finale and completed a three-game sweep of Northern Kentucky (17-30, 5-13 A-Sun) in a 12-1 victory that ultimately was shortened by a lightning in the eighth inning.
Lightning in the area forced a minimum 30 minute delay and when the weather did not show signs of improvement the game was called with one out.
FGCU (27-22-1, 10-7 A-Sun) now turns its attention to Stetson (26-27, 10-8) now that all six teams that will participate in next week’s Atlantic Sun Championship are determined with Jacksonville securing the final spot with a win over Kennesaw State Sunday. Seeds 2-6 are up for grabs as North Florida locked up the regular season championship with a win on Sunday.
FGCU currently sits alone in second place, just percentage points ahead of Stetson and Lipscomb (10-8). Kennesaw State and Jacksonville each have nine wins and currently occupy the No. 5 and 6 spots, respectively.
“Getting a sweep is always big in this league, especially when you have one fewer game than everyone else like we do,” Eagles coach Dave Tollett said. “Any team in this tournament is going to be able to win it. Top to bottom this is as competitive as the league has ever been and we’re just hoping to get hot at the right time. I was glad to see Deckert pitch so well on senior day and see our lineup shake loose up there. It was a good win for us.”
Sunday afternoon it was Deckert who shone brightly on senior day, making his fifth start of the season and earning his third victory. The senior tossed six scoreless innings, allowing just four hits while striking out six and walking one. He lowers his ERA for the season to 2.70 which is the best among FGCU pitchers that have made at least five starts. Three relievers combined to get the final four outs, giving up one run and striking out two. Devin Smeltzer faced one batter in the eighth that was the final batter of the game and stuck him out.
At the plate, Nick Rivera went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and four RBI, including a two-run double in the five-run fifth that broke the game open. Rivera now has 59 RBI this season and is looking to become just the ninth player in program history to hit the 60 mark. He also is pursuing the single-season RBI record of 74 set by Jason Louwsma (2006). Rivera became the 11th player in program history to hit 10 home runs in a single season when he went deep earlier this weekend.
The Eagles’ Thursday, Friday and Saturday series at Stetson are the final games of the regular season. The A-Sun Championship tourney runs May 20-24