DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Wildcats return to Daytona Beach this weekend for a series against FGCU at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. The three-game set begins Friday at 6 p.m.



Friday-Sunday, March 6-8
Opponent: Florida Gulf Coast (10-3)
Time: 7 p.m. | 6 p.m. | 1 p.m.
Location: Daytona Beach, Fla. | Jackie Robinson Ballpark
Watch: Youtube.com/Cateyenetwork
Live Stats: https://bcuathletics.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary

The Hurricanes (11-2) finished with eight hits and drew nine walks, while Bethune-Cookman (9-4) recorded six hits in the midweek contest.

Miami took the early lead in the second inning when Fabio Peralta lifted a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Brylan West for a 1-0 advantage.

Bethune-Cookman tied the game in the fifth. Jose Fernandez singled to start the inning and later scored when Sergio Rivera lined a single to left. Rivera advanced to third on a fielding error during the play as the Wildcats evened the score at 1-1.

The Hurricanes answered in the bottom half of the inning with another sacrifice fly, this time from Daniel Cuvet, to regain the lead at 2-1.

The Wildcats pulled even again in the sixth when Michael Rodriguez drove in a run with a two-out RBI single, tying the game at 2-2.

Miami broke the game open in the seventh. Derek Williams delivered a two-run double to left-center field, and Brylan West added an RBI sacrifice fly later in the inning to push the Hurricanes' lead to 5-2.

Jake Dorn (1-0) earned the win in relief for Miami, while Ryan Bilka recorded the final three outs for his first save of the season. Anthony Anselmo (0-1) was charged with the loss for Bethune-Cookman.

Rivera, Fernandez and Erick Almonte each collected hits for the Wildcats, while Rivera also stole his 11th base of the season.

Bethune-Cookman stranded eight runners and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Miami left 11 runners on base.

The Eagles are 10-3 on the season but have lost three of their last five after starting 8-0. FGCU has picked up wins over Boston College and Minnesota along with sweeps of North Dakota State and Stonehill. This will be their second road game of the season.

FGCU has been excellent offensively, led by sophomore catcher Jon Embury. He is batting .373 and leads the team with five home runs, 22 RBI, and 44 total bases. As a team, the Eagles are batting .342, good for 13th in the country.

Pitching wise, the team currently holds a team ERA of 4.77. Starter Evan Dempsey has gotten off to a dominant start this season, managing a 1.50 ERA in 18.0 innings with 26 strikeouts and just six walks.

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• Darryl Lee has continued his hot start to the season, leading the Wildcats with a .413 batting average.
• As a team, B-CU has hit just five home runs this season.
• Maikol Lucena extended his hitting streak to nine games against the Hurricanes.
• Wildcat starters Harbersting Abreu and Edwin Sanchez have combined to allow just three earned runs in 29.0 innings.
• B-CU is undefeated on Fridays (2-0) and Saturdays (4-0) this season.

FGCU leads the all-time series against the Wildcats 27-15. The Eagles won two of three in a series last season in Fort Meyers.


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