FGCU baseball beats 7th ranked Florida State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.- Thanks in large part to Nick Deckert’s best outing of the season on the mound, the FGCU baseball team (17-16-1, 4-2 A-Sun) rolled to a 5-0 victory over No. 7 Florida State (26-9, 11-4 ACC) on the road on Wednesday afternoon, giving FGCU its second win over a top 15 opponent this season. The Eagles would outhit the Seminoles 10-7 and Nick Rivera would smoke his sixth long ball of the season to highlight the offense. FGCU now returns home to continue Atlantic Sun play by welcoming Jacksonville (15-17, 2-1 A-Sun) this weekend.

FGCU defeated No. 13 Miami, 8-1, on the road as well earlier this season and have now defeated Florida State and Miami in the same season for the second time in program history. The feat was last accomplished in 2012 when the Eagles defeated No. 2 Florida State, 5-1, and No. 6 Miami, 4-2. The Eagles now have 13 wins over nationally ranked opponents since joining Division I but have never gathered more than three in any one year. FGCU will have two more cracks against a nationally ranked opponent when it plays a home-and-home against No. 17 Florida Atlantic beginning with a single midweek matchup at Swanson Stadium next Tuesday. The second bout will come in Boca Raton on Apr. 28. FGCU is now 4-8 this season against teams that are either ranked or receiving votes in the national polls.

Nick Deckert (Tallahassee, Fla./Tallahassee CC) would make the start of the Green and Blue in his hometown and put forth his best effort of the season by far, tossing 5.1 scoreless against the No. 7 team in the land, giving up just three hits and striking out four. He would surrender a hit to the first batter he faced in the bottom of the first and cruise from there, not giving up another hit until there was one out in the sixth. He would strand three FSU runners during that span and would leave the game with two on in favor of Jordan Desguin (Newport Beach, Cal./Newport Harbor) who would work out of the sixth with no damage and go on to toss 1.2 innings of scoreless relief with one strikeout. Adam Eggnatz (Tampa, Fla./Middle Georgia College) made his second relief appearance of the season and closed out the final two frames to lock up the victory.

“This is a huge win for us,” head coach Dave Tollett said. “Deckert really pitched well and the guys really got behind him. We came up with big hits and basically it all just came together tonight. I’m proud of our guys because it’s never easy to beat a team like that. We’ve beaten two top 15 teams this year and that says a lot about what kind of team we can be when we’re at our best. Hopefully we can ride this feeling through the rest of conference play.”

Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) set the tone offensively for FGCU as the junior went 1-3 with a homerun, two RBI and a pair of runs scored. Hitting behind Rivera was Jake Noll (Punta Gorda, Fla./Charlotte HS) who went 2-4 to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, the fourth such streak of his career and second longest behind his 14-game stretch earlier this season. Zach Spivey (Ormond Beach, Fla./Spruce Creek HS) would also collect two hits while Brady Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto HS) would go 1-4, settling his team-leading batting average at .412.

With two outs in the top of the first, Rivera worked a four-pitch walk after failing to reach base in the Eagles’ loss on Tuesday night. Noll followed with a bloop single that fell in between the second baseman and right fielder bringing up Anderson who chopped a ball up the middle. He would beat the play to first for a single but the incoming throw skipped off the glove of the FSU first baseman, allowing Rivera to round third and score the first run of the game. Noll moved up to third and Anderson scampered to second but that would be all for the Eagles in the first.

Deckert would take the hill in the bottom of the first to make his third start of the season and surrendered a lead off single to Josh Delph but would strike out the next batter and use a 3-2 offering to Quincy Nieporte to induce a 6-4-3 double play to work out of the first.

Zach Spivey (Ormond Beach, Fla./Spruce Creek HS) would lead off the second with a single to left, bringing up Colton Bottomley (Parkland, Fla./Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS) who laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the freshman into scoring position. Blake Berger (Jacksonville, Fla./Santa Fe College) came to the plate and worked a deep count before Spivey took off and stole third. The throw down to third from the FSU catcher would sail down the left field line, allowing Spivey and jump up and sprint home to push the Eagles ahead 2-0.

Deckert would retire the FSU side in order in the bottom of the second. Rivera came to the plate to lead off the top of the third and worked a 3-1 count before turning loose on a fastball and sending it soaring over the scoreboard in left for his sixth homerun of the 2015 campaign and giving the Eagles a 3-0 lead. Noll followed with a single to left and Anderson flew out to deep left bringing up Zachary Orchard (Cambridge, Ontario/Jacob Hespeler SS) who worked a 1-1 count before the Seminoles opted to go to the bullpen. Alex Deise would hit Orchard with the first pitch out of his hand bringing up Spivey who bounced into a double play, ending the rally.

The Eagles would collect seven hits at the plate over the first five frames but it was Deckert who was the real story on the mound for the Green and Blue. Through 5.0 innings on the hill the junior lefty would strike out four and strand three FSU runners while giving up just one hit to the lead off man in the bottom of the first. His longest outing of the season entering Wednesday’s matchup was his 4.0 inning start in the Eagles’ victory at USF.

With one out in the top of the sixth, Bottomley drew a walk, forcing FSU to go to the bullpen for a second time. Kyle Gilbert (Lake Mary, Fla./Seminole HS) would pinch hit for Berger and work a walk after fighting off a 3-2 count. Matt Reardon (Palm City, Fla./Martin County) came to the plate and hit a high chopper back to the mound leaving the only play at first base. Both runners would move into scoring position for Tyler Selesky (Estero, Fla./Estero HS) who also walked. The Seminoles would go to the bullpen one more time to bring in lefty Dylan Silva to face the red-hot Rivera with two outs and the bases loaded. Rivera patiently worked a 3-1 count before watching a fastball drift outside for ball four, driving in the fourth FGCU run of the afternoon. Noll would swing and miss at a 1-1 offering and the ball would carom off his foot and into the FSU dugout, which grants all runners one base, resulting in another FGCU run.

Florida State led off the bottom of the sixth with a fly out but then collected back-to-back singles through the infield to end Deckert’s stellar afternoon. Desguin would come out of the bullpen for FGCU to make his 14th appearance of the season and 12th in relief. The junior would punch out the first batter he faced and induce a ground out with a 2-2 pitch to end the inning and strand both FSU runners.

Desguin would give up a lead off single in the bottom of the seventh but would retire the next two batters he faced. Gage West came to the plate and drilled a double off the wall in right to put two runners in scoring position for the Noles who still trailed the Eagles 5-0 at that point. FSU lead off hitter Josh Delph worked a 3-2 count and Desguin responded with a breaking ball in the dirt. Delph managed to check his swing to load the bases. The Newport Beach, Cal. native ran the count full to the next batter as well and after back-to-back hard-hit foul balls induced a fly out to left to end the threat.

Eggnatz came out of the pen and worked efficiently in his second relief appearance to get three ground balls in the eighth. The Eagles would send the minimum to the plate in the top of the ninth and sent Eggnatz back to the mound to close this one out with a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the ninth. The Tampa native would give up back-to-back singles to begin the frame but struck out pinch-hitter Nick Graganella for the first out. Gage West popped out to shallow center and Eggnatz got Delph to bounce out to short to end the game and secure the 5-0 victory for FGCU.

NEXT UP
The Eagles will return to Swanson Stadium to continue A-Sun play by welcoming Jacksonville (15-17, 2-1 A-Sun) for a three game set beginning with a 6:30 p.m. tilt on Friday night. JU went 21-33 last season and gathered a 13-13 A-Sun record before meeting FGCU in the A-Sun Tournament in an elimination game. Jack English (Delray Beach, Fla./Cardinal Newman HS) was clutch when his team needed him the most as he did not allow a hit until the 7th inning, and his only two hits allowed on the evening both careened off FGCU defenders. The junior was sporadic at times as he walked four and hit two more, but the sophomore right hander battled through several early jams and after tossing 136 pitches he wrapped up his first career complete game to eliminate the Dolphins. FGCU leads the all-time series 14-8.

Jacksonville will feature defending A-Sun Pitcher of the Week Michael Baumann. The freshman right-hander went a career-high 6.2 innings for the Dolphins, never conceding a run. Baumann picked the win as JU earned the victory to open its series with Lipcomb. The Mahtomedi, Minn. Native gave up just three hits and two walks, while striking out seven Bison Batters. He leads the A-Sun with a 2.01 ERA.