FORT MYERS, FL (March 11, 2020)-FDU Baseball defeated the United States Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday in Fort Myers, FL, 9-2. The Devils have now won four of their last five games, including 3-of-4 in the sunshine state. This win brings the FDU record to 4-4 on the season, while the loss drops the Bears to 2-3.

RECAP
Both starters kept the game scoreless through the first three innings of play, with each team recording one hit apiece before the fourth inning. Coast Guard was able to strike first, pushing a run across the plate in the top of the fourth inning off of Devils starter, Anthony Molina-Porras. With one out and runners on first and second, Molina-Porras produced a groundball to junior shortstop Matt Nodoro, holding the Bears to a one run lead, 1-0.

After freshman Ryan Toomey singled with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, sophomore Tyler McCulloch roped a hit into center field. With runners on first and second, Coast Guards starter got senior Michael Tufano to fly out, ending the threat. FDU finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth inning, led off by a junior Joe Moskowitz walk. After sophomore's Nate Peacock and DJ Gonnelli reached on a walk and error, the bases were loaded for Nodoro. Nodoro recorded a sacrifice fly to right field, tying the game 1-1. Fellow junior AJ Yurista would follow with a single to left field, scoring Peacock and giving the Devils the 2-1 advantage. FDU wasn't done there, as Toomey delivered a big RBI double to score Gonnelli and advance Yurista to third. Yurista would score on a past ball to increase the Devils lead to 4-1. It was McCulloch again driving a single to center field and scoring Toomey, Devils led 5-1.

In the bottom of the next inning, FDU continued to swing it, starting with freshman Chris Kubas walking and reaching third on a throwing error by the pitcher. Gonnelli would capitalize, dropping a single over the second baseman's head to score Kubas and give FDU a 6-1 lead. After two clean innings from sophomore Reliever Thomas Consiglio, the Devil offense continued to put up runs. It was Tufano coming through to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning, stroking a double to the right center gap. Freshman pinch-hitter Arben Adili moved Tufano over on a groundball to shortstop. Junior Hakim Hamer then stepped to the plate and smoked a first pitch fastball to left field, scoring Tufano on the sacrifice fly and increasing the lead to 7-1.

After freshman Matthew Burns kept the Bear off the board in the top half of the eigth, two more runs scored for FDU in the bottom half, as Toomey hit his second RBI double of the game, scoring Gonnelli, and McCulloch hit a sacrifice fly to score Yurista. Coast Guard would add a run in the ninth before sophomore Shea Griffin recorded the last out, sealing the 9-2 victory.

LEAD DEVIL
Toomey swung a hot bat all day for FDU, going 3-for-5 at the plate with two double, two RBI's and one run scored.

FIRST TIMER
Molina-Porras recorded his first collegiate victory, tossing five innings and giving up one run on three hits while striking out two.

TEAM EFFORT
Six different starters for FDU recorded a hit, led by Toomey's three and Yurista and McCulloch's two. All-in-all, the Devils recorded 10 hits on the day.

COACHES THOUGHTS
"Today was a complete team win. I really like the way our guys are staying in the present and competing. We're playing some good baseball right now and the confidence is building." – Head Coach Jamie Quinn

NEXT TIME OUT
After a change in schedule, baseball will now take on Johns Hopkins University on Friday, March 13, starting at 3 p.m. This game and the doubleheader Saturday were originally scheduled for Stevens Institute of Technology. Saturday's opponent will now be a doubleheader with SUNY Old Westbury.