The FGCU baseball team could not fight its way back from an early deficit against Florida Atlantic as the Eagles fell to the Owls, 6-4, Tuesday evening. The Eagles fall to 26-15 while FAU improve to 26-16.
“We couldn’t do much at the plate tonight,” said head coach Dave Tollett. “They allowed us to get back into the game when some of their pitchers couldn’t find the strike zone but once they brought in Martzolf, he was lights out. We didn’t make any adjustments against him and he was able to mow us down.”
The Eagles managed just three hits on the night, two of which came off the bat of junior Alejandro Rodriguez (Cidra, Puerto Rico/Montverde Academy/Eastern Florida State). Freshman Harrison Povey (Indian Rocks Beach, Fla./Largo HS) had the other hit on the night and picked up an RBI.
FAU jumped out to a big early lead as they scored five runs in the first. The Owls added a run in the second but after that, junior Nick Love, senior Gus Carter, junior Darien Smith, and junior Tyler Tipton combined to throw seven shutout innings in relief to keep FGCU within striking distance.
After the Eagles got on the board in the second on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Mac Moise (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida Baker HS), they scored three runs in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk and two singles from Rodriguez and Povey, but the Owls brought in Max Martolf to put out the fire, which he did with a strikeout and a flyout.
The Eagles did not have any real threats after that as Martzolf threw 4.2 hitless innings while allowing just one baserunner and striking out 11 of the 14 batters he faced.
The Green and Blue will return to ASUN play this weekend when they travel to Jacksonville to take on the Dolphins. The series gets started on Friday at 7 p.m.
For complete coverage of FGCU baseball, follow the Eagles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FGCU_Baseball and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign up to have news on FGCU baseball or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
Original source can be found here.
