The FGCU baseball team took on the University of South Florida on Tuesday. The Eagles entered the game with a 5-2 record against USF all-time, and a 3-1 record this season. FGCU fell to the USF Bulls 5-1 in an error-filled game.
The game featured freshman starting pitcher Garrett Anderson making his first career start for the Eagles. Anderson made his debut in the season opener coming in relief and tossing for 2 1/3 innings, adding two strikeouts and giving up no runs to get his first career win. In the game against USF, Anderson threw four innings allowing one earned run on four hits. The Eagles sent out six additional pitchers throughout the night to try to contain the USF offense, but were unsuccessful.
Freshman pitcher Sterling Koerner coming off an outstanding five-inning relief stint, was seen again against USF, throwing just one inning allowing no hits and striking out two.
Errors were an issue for the Eagles, who gave up a run in the fifth inning and two in the sixth, giving the USF Bulls a 4-1 lead. After an error because of a bad hop on the ball by FGCU shortstop Alex Diaz, USF was able to score a run. In the following inning, USF hit a run-scoring triple, followed by a bad throw by FGCU catcher Andrew Valencia attempting to throw the runner out, which allowed USF’s fourth run.
The following inning stayed in favor of the Bulls. After a walk to USF center fielder Michael Arencibia, Nik Alfonso drilled a line drive down the third-base line to give USF its final and fifth run on the night.
The sixth inning came with a scare for FGCU baseball fans. First basemen Nick Rivera, who had already been on base twice earlier in the game, went for a scoop on a hard throw from across the diamond and was hit in the face by the ball, resulting in his leaving the game.
Poor pitching was the story of the night for the Eagles. They used seven pitchers on the night and couldn’t manage to get their offense rolling all night with only five hits on the night.
The Eagles take on Bethune Cookman University for a three-game series in Daytona Beach this weekend. The games will take place Friday through Sunday.