FGCU stays alive in A-Sun
NASHVILLE – Facing elimination for the second straight day, FGCU got an impressive performance from the bullpen by Garrett Anderson en route to defeating No. 4 and tournament host Lipscomb 8-6 Friday night.
Anderson pitched 6 1/3 innings of relief and retired 19 of 23 batters faced, six via strikeouts. He allowed just one earned run on three hits as he improved to 2-2 on the season. Opposite the FGCU staff, Lipscomb starter Kyle Kemp suffered the loss and fell to 3-3.
With the win, the Eagles (26-31) advance to the A-Sun Championship semifinal for the third straight season and face a rematch with No. 2 UNF at 2 p.m. Saturday. On the other hand, Lipscomb’s (31-27) season comes to an end after also dropping an extra-inning game to UNF earlier in the day.
“There’s no quit in this ball club right now,” said Eagles coach Dave Tollett. “We answered back every time they went ahead, and Garrett gave us the performance of maybe his career, definitely the season, He was absolutely outstanding. We’re in this thing for at least another game and are just taking it one game at a time.”
With a win against North Florida Saturday, the Eagles would advance to play No. 6 Stetson in the championship game at 5:30 p.m. They would need two wins to be crowned champions, with an if necessary game Sunday at 2 p.m.