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TAMPA — Pale and sluggish Jason Louwsma was so sick prior to Friday night’s NCAA Division II Tournament game against Catawba (N.C.) College that he was sprawled out on Florida Gulf Coast University’s charter bus while his teammates took batting and infield practice.

Louwsma and four Eagles subs celebrated Thursday’s 7-5 win against Lynn University with a bad batch of chicken wings and they were up all night and saggy all day due to roaring cases of food poisoning.

Between heaves, Louwsma, a senior All-America third baseman and the Eagles’ leading hitter, insisted to coach Dave Tollett he would play vs. third-ranked and third-seeded Catawba in the South Region matchup in front of the packed bleachers at the University of Tampa.

Third pitch he faced, Louwsma ripped a Matt Smith offering high into the mesh above the left-field fence for a two-run homer and 2-1 first-inning lead. In the second inning, Louwsma’s rope to left field scored Graig Smith for 5-2. His RBI single down the third-base line gave FGCU a 10-6 cushion in the seventh.

In one of most, well, gutty performances many Tollett ever has seen, Louwsma went 4-for-5 with 4 RBIs as the second-seeded Eagles remained undefeated in the double-elimination format with a 10-7 win.

“I don’t think anybody else has been that sick and played the same day,“ Tollett said.

Tollett did not think Louwsma, who had a fever of 101 Friday morning, could tough it out. About 6:15 Friday night, Tollett asked assistant Rusty McKee his opinion.

“It was bad,” Tollett said. “Coach Rusty said, ‘He’s playing. The kid said he’s playing. He’s not walking out on this field unless he’s playing.’

“Just a tremendous job. I mean, he’s been sick all night long.“

Louwsma still was in horrid shape when the game started. The home run even gave him trouble.

“I was excited when I hit the home run, but I could feel it around the bases.“

FGCU (41-15) faces top-ranked and top-seeded Tampa (48-6) at 11 this morning. The Eagles won one of three home games against the Spartans this season. Should FGCU win that, it would play Sunday at a time yet to be determined. If the Eagles lose against Tampa, they will play a survivor from the losers’ brack at 7 tonight.

The Eagles had 14 hits off four Catawba pitchers.

Senior Ryan Williams of Estero notched the win to run his record to 6-1 by giving up eights hits while striking out seven and walking two in almost 5 1/3 innings. J.J. Crumbley and Matt Laliberte finished off the Indians, allowing just three more hits.

“I thought we pitched well in certain situations and I thought we helped them in certain situations,” Tollett said.

Catawba (45-13) got to Williams in the first. David Thomas led off the game with a single and Mark Smith moved him with a sacrifice bunt. Williams made a pickoff move toward second, but as Thomas broke toward third, Williams fired low to second baseman Casey Coleman and Thomas scored as the ball rolled to center field.

After Louwsma’s homer, Catawba countered in the top of the second with an RBI single from Thomas, scoring Ryan Query, who had walked, for 2-2.

FGCU shelled Smith from the game in the second. Patrick Garrido followed Casey Coleman’s walk with a double shot to left-center for 3-2. Walks to Smith and Josh Upchurch set the table for Mike Cleghorn, who was hit by a pitch, scoring Garrido for 4-2. After Louwsma’s RBI single, Catawba coach Jim Gantt went with Alex Fairweather, who immediately gave up an infield single to Ian Manson (scoring Upchurch for 6-2) before settling to close the inning with two outs.

Catawba, which rallied from a 7-0 deficit to beat No. 4 Florida Southern, 9-8, on Thursday, answered with a two-run Jerry Sands homer over the left-field wall for 6-4.

After the Indians picked up a run in the fourth, FGCU pushed it to 9-5 in the bottom of the inning, powered by five singles and a walk, forcing Catawba to insert reliever Matt Seabolt.

Catawba struck for another run in the sixth on Query’s RBI single to cut to 9-6 and the Indians countered FGCU’s seventh inning run with one in the top of the ninth.

Said a flushed Louwsma afterward: “Ready to get home and get to bed.“

Still sick?

“Yes, sir, very much so,” Louwsma said.

Linescore:

CC: 112 - 101 - 001 — 7

FGCU: 240 - 3010 - x — 10

FGCU-Williams, Crumbley (6), Laliberte (7) and Smith. CC-Smith, Fairweather (2), Seabolt (4), Benton (7) and Query. 2B-Garrido (FGCU), Lefco (CC). HR-Louwsma (FGCU), Sands (CC).

- - -

NCAA Division II Baseball South Region Tournament -- Double elimination pairings

Thursday

Game 1 — Tampa (1) 14, Albany State (6), 0; Game 2 — FGCU (2) 7, Lynn (5) 5;

Game 3 — Catawba (3) 9, Fla. Southern (4) 8

Friday

Game 4 — Lynn 12, Albany State 7 (Albany State eliminated)

Game 5 — Tampa 8, Fla. Southern 3 (Fla. Southern eliminated)

Game 6 — FGCU 10, Catawba 7

Today

Game 7 — Tampa vs. FGCU, 11 a.m.; Game 8 — Lynn vs. Catawba, 3 p.m.; Game 9 — Winner Game 8 vs. Loser Game 7, 7 p.m.

Sunday

Game 10 — Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9, 1 p.m.; Game 11 — Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 10, if necessary, 5 p.m.