DELAND, Fla. – Jacksonville University baseball left nine men on base and were shutout 7-0 by 3-seed FGCU on Tuesday afternoon at Melching Field.
 
The Dolphins (33-23) dropped game one of pool play of the ASUN Baseball Championship, but still have two games to play with a chance to qualify for the semifinals that begin Saturday.
 
"Overall a disappointing outing offensively today," said Head Coach Chris Hayes. "We had our chances early in the game to put some pressure on them and we didn't take advantage of those opportunities.
 
"Once they got a lead they good job of attacking the zone and keeping us off-balance. There were four or five innings where that game was in the balance and we needed more earlier when we had our opportunities and we just didn't deliver."
 
JU had a chance to put some pressure on the Eagles early, loading the bases in the first thanks to two hit batsmen and a walk. A groundout ended the threat and was the first chapter of what became the story of the day: the Dolphins putting men on in all but two innings, but FGCU working its way out of trouble.
 
Blake Barquin did a great job of keeping a dangerous Eagles lineup off balance early. He issued a leadoff walk in the first, but a pair of flyouts and a strikeout ended the frame. He sat them down in order in the second and finally allowed a hit to start the third, a double to left, but stranded the runner at third with a big strikeout of ASUN Player of the Year Edrick Felix.
 
JU put runners at the corners in the second to no avail and the leadoff man got on again to start the third, but a double play again kept the Dolphins off the board.
 
FGCU broke through in the fourth. A one-out solo shot to right put the Eagles on the board, and with two-outs, a double to left followed by a two-run homer to right field made it 3-0 before the inning ended.
 
Barquin allowed another solo homer in the fifth, but worked around a pair of walks to limit the damage to one, and then faced the minimum in the sixth, his final inning of the day. Layton Perry went the rest of the way.
 
"Blake did a great job today of giving us an opportunity and the bullpen is going to be fresh," said Hayes.
 
The Dolphins only had one hit from fourth onward until the seventh, when the best chance materialized for JU. Hogan McIntosh drew a leadoff walk, which forced FGCU to go to the bullpen and Elias Flowers singled the other way to put men at the corners with two outs, but a strikeout once again left men on and FGCU escaped without any damage.
 
The Eagles tacked on three more in the seventh, using a sacrifice fly to get one and a two-run homer to finish the scoring for the day. JU tried once again in the ninth, with Tommy Joseph lining a leadoff single through the hole at short, but a double play cut him down and the game ended on a final groundout.
 
"We're still fighting in this tournament and tomorrow is a huge game so we've got to play well," said Hayes. "I know Evan Chrest is going to be really good for us and offensively we're going to pick him up and be much better."
 
ON DECK
 
Jacksonville faces 3-seed Liberty tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. in game two of Pool A play in the ASUN Baseball Championship. The Flames won their first game, 12-11 over 1-seed Lipscomb on Tuesday morning.
 
THREE STRIKES
 
1.Blake Barquin matched his career-high in innings pitched, going six in his fourth career start
2.Colin Wetterau extended his hit streak to six games
3.It was the first time Jacksonville was shut out in an ASUN Championship since falling 3-0 to FGCU in 2014