Huskers start the first of their 3 game series at home on Friday at 4:05 against the Atlantic Sun Conference. The FGCU Eagles come to town with a 2014 RPI of 90. Eagles are 8-9-1 on the year right now, having lost their last game to Miami Hurricanes. Uncharacteristic errors by FGCU led to 8 unearned runs in that game.
Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles
Eagles will return all 3 starters from 2014 including 2014 Golden Spikes Award nominee Mike Murray. Mike Murray was named ASunBSB Pitcher of the Week already this season. He had 13 wins in 2014 with a 1.85 ERA, and 79 strikeouts. He has an 88-91 mpg fastball and 3 good offspeed pitches.
Brady Anderson will take over a starting position and has the same speed fastball as Murray but a solid curve at 78-80. Sterling Koerner has pitched 24 innings so far this year and has 3.38 ERA. He was the Saturday starter against Minnesota. Brady Anderson has pitched 22.1 innings and has a 5.64 ERA. He can also come in in relief and do well. Devin Smeltzer has pitched 21 innings and logged in a 4.29 ERA. He has been the Sunday starter.
Atlantic Sun National Freshman of the year Jake Noll and Murray were both on the Pre-season All-Conference list. Noll was at the top of the lineup for the Eagles and had a 101 hits last season. He ended with a .367 batting average, 56 runs, 18 doubles and 29 RBIs in 61 games. He’s moving out to 3rd base and Matt Reardon will now be at 2nd which will probably mean that double play defense is firmly entrenched.
Huskers taking the field for warm up in Houston 3-7-15 (photo Kelli Anne)
Also on the Pre-season All-Conference team are position players Nick Rivera and Colton Bottomley. Rivera ended 2014 with a .330 average in 59 games with 45 runs, 73 hits 25 doubles, 6 homers and 48 RBIs. He was one of the best Freshman in baseball last year. Bottomley was only available for half the season due to injury last year but handed in .328 average in 42 games, 38 runs, 57 hits, 11 doubles, 6 homers and 25 RBIs.
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Head coach Dave Tollett said, We have a lot of talent returning to our roster and a good mix of young guys that will help us out all over the field.” They are picked to be second in their conference behind Kennesaw State.
Huskers will need to continue their upswing in hits (sorry, couldn’t resist that one) to get ahead of the Eagles. Perhaps Blake Headley can extend his hitting streak of triples this weekend. Good defense certainly showed in Wednesday’s game against Northern Colorado too with Lubach throwing out a runner at second, Alvarado with some nice grabs in left field, and a double play.
The weather report has temperatures 75 on Friday, 71 on Saturday and 66 on Sunday. Get out to Hawks Field and cheer on the Huskers and GO BIG RED!!!