Feb. 18, 2012
Final Stats
Reach Baseball Contact Michael Stambaugh for more details by E-Mail
FT. MYERS, Fla. – Wildcat baseball moved to 1-1 on the year as Florida Gulf Coast scored runs in four consecutive innings to down B-CU, 7-3, Saturday afternoon at Swanson Stadium. Timely hitting proved to be the key to the loss as the Eagles broke early deadlock to control the final innings.
“Like I told the players, we definitely did some good things,” said Head Coach Jason Beverlin, “and we did some things we need to improve. We did some of the little things we talked about in practice pretty well; hitting the cut, cutting down that runner at third base on the tag play, bunting well, and guys came up with some big hits.”
Defense was the word in the first half of the game, with the teams combining for just three hits through the first four innings.
In the fifth inning, the Wildcats were the first to strike, with Jairo Acevedo leading off the inning by firing a speeder at the third baseman to reach base, batted in two hitters later by a Brandon Turner shot up the middle.
The Eagles were quick to respond, using sacrifice flies to first earn the tie in the bottom of the fifth and a one-run lead in the sixth.
In the seventh, Turner collected another RBI, laying down a sac bunt to tie the game at two, as Carlos Delgado crossed the plate. Brashad Johnson gave the Wildcats the upper hand, briefly, with a powerful double straight down the left field line to bring Josh Johnson home for the 3-2 lead.
The Eagles came to life offensively at just the right time for their cause, scoring two runs in the bottom half, and putting the game away in the eighth on three runs, highlighted by FGCU shortstop Alex Diaz' (hit 2-3 with 3 RBI) leadoff homer in the seventh, and two-RBI double in the eighth.
“Every time we would mount a threat, we would give it right back, and we just couldn't overcome that today,” Beverlin said. “We just have to clean up some of those mistakes if we plan on beating good baseball teams, that's the bottom line.”
Turner led the Wildcats offensively, hitting 2-4 with 2 RBI and one sacrifice bunt.
“Brandon did a really good job,” Beverlin noted. “He had a really good approach, stayed on the ball well. He looked really comfortable today, and when he got in there, he executed and his swing looked real good.”
FGCU's Ricky Knapp (1-0) collected the win on 1.2 innings, with the loss to Bryan Rivera (0-1). Montana Durapau got the start for B-CU, throwing 4.1 innings with no earned runs and five strikeouts.
“Montana pitched really well,” Beverlin said, “pitching himself out of a couple different jams, which was really nice to see.”
The Wildcats are looking to finish out strong in Sunday's game and win the first series of the year, returning the Swanson for a 1:00 p.m. start.
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