DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Held to five hits. Bethune-Cookman couldn't recreate last Friday's season-opening magic as Florida Gulf Coast cruised to an 11-3 victory at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.
How It Happened
FGCU's Brian Ellis registered four hits and six RBI as the Eagles (4-2) plated ten runs for the fourth consecutive games while Jason Woodward all but shut down the Wildcats (1-4) in the first seven innings.
Ellis' full-count three-run homer to right center in the third set the tone for a five-run outburst that chased B-CU starter
Louis Lipthratt, who starred in last week's season opener against Youngstown State.
B-CU scored in the third when
Malik Stephens hit a two-out single, stole second, advanced to third on Matt Garcia's single and scored on a wild pitch, but didn't score again until the eighth when Garcia tripled home
Lake Fisher and Anthonie Gonzalez, who singled to left.
Irvin Escobar registered a single for B-CU.
Gabriel Perez,
Marcos Gamboa (three strikeouts) and
Dale Michaud all worked relief for the Wildcats, LIpthratt struck out five in taking the loss.
"Hats off to FGCU," Wildcats head coach
Jonathan Hernandez said after the game. "They capitalized on some of our mistakes. We got flat-out beat tonight."
With two more games to go this weekend with the Eagles, Hernandez will have his team ready to go.
"The postgame message today was, yeah we got our butts kicked tonight, but we have got to be ready for tomorrow. We have an opportunity tomorrow to come back and tie the series. I'm looking forward to seeing our guys compete."
Notes
Up Next
Game two of the series is set for 6 p.m. Saturday.
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--#HailWildcats--
