The ETSU baseball team dropped both games of the doubleheader to Florida Gulf Coast University on a hot Saturday at Swanson Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla., losing the first game 9-5, and the second game, 6-2.
ETSU (18-34, 9-20) was out hit by FGCU by a combined 23-15 in the two games as the Bucs struck out a combined 21 times including 14 times in game two. ETSU only stranded 14 runners in the two games while the Eagles stranded 15 runs.
In game one, the Bucs got on the board first as Troy Mendez (Roswell, Ga.) came in to score on a wild pitch in the first to give ETSU a 1-0 lead.
The Eagles scored three run in the bottom of the second on a two-run home run by Stephen Rassel and a RBI single by Mikel Alvarez to make the score 3-1 FGCU.
The Bucs cut into the FGCU lead in the top of the third as Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) singled to left driving in Chris Rankhorn (Gallatin, Tenn.) to cut the Eagle lead to 3-2.
Coleman hit a two-run home run and Steven Wickens had a two-RBI single to increase the Eagle lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh.
In the eighth, Anthony Russell (Waldorf, Md.) doubled down the left field line scoring Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.), then Hoilman singled to left driving in Mendez and Russell to make the score 7-5.
FGCU added two more in the bottom of the eighth on a Coleman single and a Rassel grounder to make the final 9-5.
In game two, FGCU scored first as Ozzie Borrell doubled driving in a run to give the Eagles an early 1-0 lead.
The Bucs answered in the second as Danny Petro (Atlanta, Ga.) and Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) hit back to back solo home runs to give ETSU a 2-1 lead.
FGCU retook the lead in the bottom of the second as Vinnie Scardazio hit a two-run home run to right to make the score 3-2 Eagles.
In the fourth, Scardazio hit his second home run of the game to give FGCU a 4-2 lead, and in the seventh the Eagles added two more on an Alvarez RBI single and a Borrell RBI double to make the final 6-2.

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