What: FAU (18-11, 5-4) vs No. 15 FGCU (23-5, 7-2)
When: April 4 & May 16 6:30 PM Boca Raton | April 11 & May 9 6:30 PM Fort Myers
Where: FAU Baseball Stadium | Swanson Stadium
Video: CUSA.tv FAU | ESPN+ Florida Gulf Coast
Live Stats: Here
FGCU Team Site: Here
Series: Eagles lead 15-13 all-time against the Owls.
Projected Starting Pitchers:
FAU - RHP Danny Trehey (0-0, 54.00 ERA)
FGCU - LHP Chase Kriebel (1-1, 4.24 ERA)
Owl Notables
FAU showcased themselves as the better Owl squad this past weekend.
After sweeping their season series against UCF last Tuesday with a scrappy 4-2 win over the Knights, FAU won two out of three against Rice outscoring them 24-12. It is great momentum for the team having won six of their last seven.
Senior outfielder Mitchell Hartigan (pictured) had a great outing to conclude the series. In his three at-bats, he got two hits for two RBI with one of them being a two-run homer to left field. He is batting .292 for 28 hits and 22 RBI on the season.
Nolan Schanuel continues to be in great form for the Owls. He ended the series against Rice with a walk-off two-run rocket to right field for FAU to cruise to victory. The junior outfielder has 10 home runs this season, which places him in the top 40 of the country.
After seeing his FAU debut last less than one inning last Tuesday against UCF, Danny Trehey will have the start against FGCU. He returns after missing the first half of the season due to injury.
The Owls still have a few injuries to manage. Junior infielder Christian Adams will be out until May due to injury, while junior center-fielder Spencer Rich is expected to return sometime next week.
Eagle Notables
Florida Gulf Coast is the last non-conference opponent FAU has yet to face this season.
The Eagles recently took care of business against Jacksonville taking two of three games in their series matchup. They outscored the Dolphins 31-15 to continue their excellent start to ASUN Play with a 7-2 record.
With their strong performances this season, FGCU is getting plenty of attention from the national polls. Voters amongst the various outlets have combined to place the Eagles anywhere from 25th to as high as 15th.
- Collegiate Baseball 25
- Perfect Game 18
- Baseball America 21
- NCBWA 18 (last week)
- Coaches Poll 17
- D1 Baseball 15
Maintaining with what their sports information department is claiming, we're putting them at #15 which is where D1 Baseball currently has them in their rankings.
The Eagles possess a great batting unit with four of their batters obtaining 10 or more home runs so far this season.
Edrick Felix leads the team in home runs with 11, also tied for the most RBI with 38 alongside Joe Kinker. By limiting the potency of the Eagle offense, FAU could pull out the win.
After this contest, the Eagles will travel to North Carolina for a three-game set against Queens for the weekend.
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[UPDATED SCHEDULE: HERE
What: FAU (21-12) vs No. 15 FGCU (26-6)
When: April 11 6:30 PM
Where: Swanson Stadium
Video: ESPN+
FGCU Team Site: Here
Series: Eagles lead 15-14 all-time against the Owls.
Projected Starting Pitchers:
FAU - RHP Danny Trehey
FGCU - LHP Chase Kriebel
Owl Notables
Florida Atlantic found Fort Myers a difficult place to play last season. FGCU won both meetings at Swanson Stadium, outscoring FAU by a combined 12-3 margin. The Eagles lead the all-time series 15-14 after the Owls 8-4 win in Boca Raton last Tuesday.
The Owls took two of three from FIU over the weekend in Miami to move to 7-5 in Conference USA. Florida Atlantic has won eight of the last 10 overall.
Conference USA announced Schanuel as its Hitter of the Week for a second time this season on Monday. The junior first baseman went 9-for-14 in leading the Owls to a 3-1 record last week. He successfully reached base 13 times in 18 plate appearances and has now been on base at least once in 28 straight games.
FAU Sports Information
Eagle Notables
All eyes Tuesday night will be on FGCU's Brian Ellis, who has the chance to etch his name into college baseball history every time he steps into the batter's box.
Ellis has reached base safely – either with a hit, a walk or by being hit by a pitch – in 101 straight games. Only former Texas standout Mark Payton has gotten to 101 games before in the recorded history of the game at the Division I level.
FGCU's offense leads the nation in three categories – runs (327), on base percentage (.451) and slugging percentage (.602) – and is second in the country in hits (377), hit by pitch (79), home runs (75) and home runs per game (2.34).
FGCU Sports Information
Share the link…
Here you go!
ESPN+
The link they have on their site returns nothing as well.
And a 3-run home run came in for the Eagles…Still very early but FAU has to get runs on the board.
If all else fails, ESPN+ has a schedule of all the games going on (their own broadcasts, SECN+, ACCNX, etc.)
SMH.
The team will have a couple days to get ready for their second straight ranked opponent in that of Dallas Baptist. Let's Go! 🦉⚾️🧢
UPDATED SCHEDULE: HERE
That is down right pathetic.
Great performance by the Owls tonight though!
FAU will borrow $44.6M at a fixed rate over 30 years.
We are still working on the following, a note from 2010. Its worth noting, I dont think a single AAC school is without naming rights for their football stadium. Its astounding how difficult this has been to secure in the heart of Boca Raton in good economic times. $1m a year is more than a fair price comparatively. If we had that in place for the previous 12 years...I imagine a new/improved baseball stadium would be more feasible.
The school also is “working on finding a sponsor for naming rights to its stadium, a necessity to help reduce the debt”
Can't they only expand seating a bit more, build the bathrooms and a concession stand?
FAU does not need to re build a state of the art facility; FAU just needs to improve it a bit more. That's all we need.
It is the same story with the BBall arena, we don't need something huge, just expand it to 5k or 6K, that's all.
I believe we got a donation of $1m over 2 years ago.
Not sure where that money is now or what $1m does in 2023 for facility renovations.
We're working on a piece that will cover that and more just as soon as Spring Football is over.
What: FAU (28-20, 12-12) vs FGCU (35-12, 18-6)
When: May 9th @ 6:30 PM
Where: Swanson Stadium
Video: ESPN+
FGCU Team Site: Here
Series: Both teams are tied 15-15 all-time. Owls have a 2-0 lead this season.
Projected Starting Pitchers:
FAU - RHP Brandon Smith (2-0, 6.05 ERA)
FGCU - LHP Stephen Wilmer (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
Owl Notables
FAU has gained momentum after winning two out of three games on the road against Charlotte, and they have outfielder Spencer Rich and pitcher Robert Wegielnik to thank.
Rich had his most clutch performances of the season against the 49ers, getting the game-winning run due to a throwing error from Charlotte in the series opener and a two-run homer to complete the rally Saturday evening. To top it off, Wegielnik was composed on the mound with five strikeouts and no hits allowed in 3.2 innings to close out both victories as it earned him C-USA Pitcher of the Week.
Winning the first two games against FGCU earlier this season, the Owls have a chance to take the all-time series lead over the Eagles for the first time in the matchup's history.
Brandon Smith will be making his first career start as an Owl. The redshirt junior has appeared 14 times this year as a relieving pitcher, striking out 11 batters and allowing 19 hits in 19.1 innings. Going against an offensively talented FGCU squad will be a good test for Smith once he steps onto the mound.
Eagle Notables
Florida Gulf Coast is in great rhythm having won seven of their last eight against Jacksonville State, USF, Austin Peay, and Stetson.
Home runs continue to be the Eagles' specialty this season, leading the country in that category with 113 (in comparison, FAU is tied for 86th with 61 homers). Six batters are in double-figures for home runs with Edrick Felix topping the team with 21 home runs, which ranks him in the top 10 of the nation. Preventing them from hitting the ball out of the park will be key for the FAU bullpen Tuesday night.
With FGCU possessing the fifth-best batting average in the country with .327, other batters the Owls will need to be careful with are infielders Joe Kinker and Alejandro Figueredo. Kinker leads the Eagles in RBI with 66 and Figueredo has the third-most hits with 69.
The Owls might need to be wary of Eagle pitcher Stephen Wilmer, making his second start on the mound this season. He has been used sparingly throughout the year as he played in just six innings, but has a good tendency in getting strikeouts with nine on the year. Not only that, he also has a .053 batting average allowed, so FAU needs to be precise on their swings if they are going to rack up some hits against him.
FGCU will stick around in Florida as they play three games on the road against North Florida in Jacksonville over the weekend.