Rivera's two home runs gives him three for the season and totaled five RBI on the night.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- FGCU (12-13-1) rode a breakout effort on the mound from Jordan Desguin and a power surge from Nick Rivera to an 8-1 victory on the road against No. 15 Miami (18-8, 6-3 ACC) on Wednesday night.
The Eagles set the tone early and cruised to the win after dropping the first two games of the season series. It is the Eagles' first win against a ranked opponent since Feb. 27, 2014.
Rivera blasted two home runs deep into the Miami night, giving him three for the season and totaled five RBI on the two long balls with the first being a three-run shot in the top of the first to put the Eagles ahead early.
The sophomore now has an FGCU best 27 RBI this season with nine doubles. Matt Reardon drove in two runs while going 2-5 at the plate with a run scored. The freshman is now hitting .304 for the season.
Desguin made the first start of his FGCU career on Wednesday night and made an impression immediately. He would strike out the side in the bottom of the first inning and finish with five strikeouts overall against just one walk while only giving up four hits.
The junior is now 3-0 this season with a 2.25 ERA over 24.0 innings on the hill for FGCU. He has struck out 21 batters against four walks and opponents are hitting just .172 off him. He is the third different Eagle to toss a complete game this season and all three have come in the last five games.
"Jordan and Nick really set the tone for us tonight," head coach Dave Tollett said.
"Nick got it started with one of the longest home runs I've ever seen at this park in the first and Jordan followed that up by striking the side out in the first which really fired up our guys. We played the best we've played all year tonight and it couldn't come at a better time with conference play starting this weekend. I'm really proud of our guys; this was a huge win for us."
