Florida Gulf Coast University’s baseball team was on the brink of reaching the NCAA tournament, but an unexpected ending cut their championship dreams short.
The Eagles were crowned ASUN Conference co-champions after weather delays forced the conference to cancel the deciding game against Stetson University. FGCU was leading during the rain-delayed game, but because of a strict 11:59 p.m. deadline, the teams could not complete a second game. The conference awarded the NCAA tournament bid to Stetson, the highest remaining seed.
“We're definitely looking to make the NCAA tournament, make it to a regional this year, and then go from there,” FGCU catcher Mac Moise told Gulf Coast News in February.
The Eagles came heartbreakingly close to that goal.
“At the end, I thought they were the best team in the conference. You cannot convince me any other way,” said FGCU head baseball coach Dave Tollett.
After more than six hours of weather delays, Tollett described the moment the season abruptly ended.
“All of a sudden, they come out, said lightning strike... And just life stopped for these kids,” he said.
The conference awarded FGCU the win in the weather-delayed game against Stetson since the Eagles were leading 6-5 in the seventh inning. However, both teams had the same head-to-head record in the tournament, and with the second game never played, they were named co-champions. Stetson, as the higher seed, received the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
“Coach Toe obviously came in and told us, and it was definitely very emotional, very sad. Not the way you want your career to end,” said FGCU graduate student and outfielder Jake McKee, an Estero High School graduate. “But I mean, life is unfair, I guess.”
FGCU players and coaches say they would have rather lost on the field than by a deadline.
“Hopefully, instead of showing our anger and really going against the conference that gave us the opportunity to play this game and to live out our dream, I just hope this is a lesson that shows them that they need to fix this part of the tournament,” McKee said.
“I've heard from about every coach in the conference and said, ‘Hey, Coach Toe, we got to do something because it's just not fair,’” Tollett added.
FGCU’s players and coaches hope this disappointing end will spark change to ASUN tournament scheduling. Tollett suggested that the championship game be played on Saturday, with Sunday reserved for potential weather delays, giving teams a fair shot at finishing on the field.
“I don't think anyone wants to see a team crushed the way ours was crushed. I don't think anyone is, from Stetson to our conference office,” Tollett said. “It's just not who they are.”
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