FORT MYERS, Fla.— The LIU Brooklyn baseball dropped the rubber game of its weekend series at FGCU, falling 10-1 at Swanson Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

LIU broke open the scoring to lead off the top of the second as sophomore Colin Adams lifted a 1-0 offering from Brenden Heiss over the left center field wall for his first home run of the season. 

The Eagles would respond in the bottom of the third inning, first tying the game up on a RBI single through the right side by Alex Brait off of first-year righty Alec Huertas. LIU would get two outs with runners on the corners but Joe Kinker grabbed the lead for FGCU with a two-run double to left center to push the score to 3-1. 

The Blackbirds threatened in the top half of the sixth inning as junior Rob Griswold worked a walk then advanced all the way to third on a failed pick off with one out. FGCU escaped trouble picking up a strikeout and foul out to end the inning. 
After two scoreless frames, the Eagles used a four-run sixth inning on four hits and a LIU to break the game open 7-1. FGCU would tack on one run in the seventh and a pair in the eighth to cap the scoring. The Blackbirds were held to just one hit over the final seven innings as senior Joe Mercadante registered a single in the top of the eighth inning.

Huertas suffered the loss for the Blackbirds, surrendering three runs in three innings in his first collegiate start. Redshirt-freshman Ryan Neuweiler, junior Jackson Svete and senior Anthony Rupp made appearances out of the bullpen for LIU.Senior Brock Hallum led the team with three walks in the game. LIU was out hit 16-2 by the Eagles on the day. The Blackbirds stranded 10 runners on base to FGCU's nine runners.

UP NEXT 

The Blackbirds close out the series on Sunday, February 24 with a 1:00 p.m. start from Swanson Stadium. ?