DELAND, Fla. – For the first time in program history, the FGCU baseball team (42-18) is heading to the NCAA Championship as the No. 3 Eagles fought back from a two-run, ninth-inning deficit to defeat No. 1 Jacksonville (36-24), 4-3, in 10 innings Saturday in the ASUN Championship Final to advance to the NCAA Regionals next weekend.
 
The Eagles entered the day needing to defeat the Dolphins twice, and that's exactly what they did with a 4-2 win in the first game. Trailing 3-1 with one out in the top of the ninth in the second game, Julio Gonzalez (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/Seminole State College (OK)/Brito Miami Private HS) laced a single right back up the middle to score Corey Fehribach (Douglasville, Ga./West Georgia CC/Alexander HS) and pinch runner Tyler Yeager (Fort Myers, Fla./Riverdale HS) and tie the game, 3-3. In the bottom of the inning, Parker Hamilton (2-0, 3.38) – who picked up the win – entered from the bullpen and delivered a pivotal perfect frame, setting the stage for the 10th inning.
 
In the 10th, consecutive one-out singles by Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) and Matt Reardon (Palm City, Fla./Martin County HS) preceded a Spencer Levine (Miami, Fla./Seminole State College/Miami Killian Senior HS) walk to load the bases. With the potential championship-winning run just 90 feet away, freshman Cameron Krzeminski (Coral Springs, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas HS) quickly fell behind in the count 0-2. However, he laid off the third pitch low and away, and the ball got away from the Jacksonville catcher.
 
Coffers read the wild pitch perfectly, nearly instantly broke from third and with a head-first slide across home plate tallied the championship-clinching run.
 
As he did all tournament long, program-founding head coach Dave Tollett again called the right number out of the bullpen to preserve the tournament title in the bottom of the 10th as Garrett Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto County HS), who threw 7.1 innings and earned the win against Lipscomb Friday afternoon, was credited with the save.
 
After allowing the first runner of the frame to reach on a single, Anderson induced a pivotal around-the-horn 5-4-3 double play before picking up the final out on a ground ball to secure FGCU's 63rd conference championship – regular season or tournament – in 10 years of Division-I play.

With its fourth win in less than a 29-hour span and its fifth win of the week, FGCU's 42 wins this season sets an all-time program record. The Green and Blue previously won 41 games during its Division II days in 2006. Additionally, the Eagles became the first team in conference history to win five games en route to being crowned conference champions.
 
The Eagles – who will likely have an RPI in the 30s entering the NCAA Championship – will learn their Regional destination and opponents when the NCAA Selection Show airs live on ESPN2 on Monday at 12 p.m. The Regionals take place June 2-5.

"I've seen this team do it all year long – come from behind and win," Tollett said. "We're grinders. We wanted it. We wanted to take care of business and make sure we were in. We got a great start from Sterling (Koerner) in game two. He's a bullpen guy and came out there to give us those quality innings. We had guys that threw yesterday that just wanted the ball. That's probably what I was most proud of. They wanted it for their teammates. Marc's read, that ball didn't even leave the circle. It was one of the best reads from third I've seen in my 30 years of coaching."

GAME ONE
Trailing 2-1 in the top of the sixth inning, redshirt senior slugger Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) brought the Eagles back to even with a solo home run to left field start what turned out to be the difference-making, three-run inning. After a single from Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) put the go-ahead run on base, the Eagles took the lead on a RBI double from Reardon and extended its advantage to two runs when Alex Brait (Viera, Fla./Viera HS) followed with a RBI double of his own.

Prior to the frame, Jacksonville threatened to score in its third straight inning and extend its lead, but freshman Reagan Wright was caught leaning from second base and FGCU starter Peyton Gray (4-3, 4.60) picked him off to end the inning with two-hole hitter Scott Dubrule at the plate and halt the Dolphins' momentum.

In the bottom of the seventh, Ruben Someillan tried to stretch a one-out double into a triple, but a relay throw from Gage Morey (West Palm Beach, Fla./PB Central HS) to Jake Smith (Windermere, Fla./Windermere Prep) to Garcia nailed the Jacksonville center fielder at third base and allowed Gray (Columbus, Ind./Gulf Coast State/Columbus East HS) to get through his seventh inning of work in only eighth pitches.

From there, Kenton Hering (Melbourne, Fla./Eastern Florida State/Viera HS) made his fourth appearance of the week and pitched a perfect 2.0 innings to earn his second save of the ASUN Tournament and force the decisive championship game.

GAME TWO
The script was flipped in the winner-take-all championship as Jacksonville was the first team to score. After Nathan Koslowski hit a leadoff single back up the middle and moved around the bases on a sacrifice bunt and base hit from Angel Camacho, the Jacksonville leadoff man crossed home plate on a sacrifice fly from Sam Armstrong, and the Dolphins took an early lead.

As had been the case for much of the week, though, FGCU answered back in its next at-bat as Reardon hit a leadoff single, advanced around the bases on a walk and sacrifice bunt and scored on Smith's sacrifice fly to center field to tie the score.

The Dolphins reclaimed its early advantage on a RBI single from Someillan in the bottom of the fourth and extended its lead to two on a two-out RBI base knock from Scott Dubrule in the bottom of the seventh. However, with FGCU trailing by two and down to its final two outs, Gonzalez came through with the aforementioned two-RBI single to even the score, 3-3.

An inning later, Coffers came through with the aforementioned game-winning run before Anderson faced the minimum in the home half of the frame and induced the groundout to second base to punch the Eagles' ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

The Eagles got a season-high 6.1 innings out of Sterling Koerner (Fort Pierce, Fla./John Carroll HS) before turning it over to Josh Dye (DeLand, Fla./DeLand HS), Hamilton (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter HS) and Anderson out of the bullpen.

ASUN ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Tournament MVP: Marc Coffers, FGCU
P - Chris Gau, Jacksonville
P - Kutter Crawford, FGCU
C - Mike Cassala, Jacksonville
IF - Austin Upshaw, Kennesaw State
IF - Grant Williams, Kennesaw State
IF - Scott Dubrule, Jacksonville
IF - Nick Rivera, FGCU
OF - Marc Coffers, FGCU
OF - Michael Gigliotti, Lipscomb
OF - Chris Lehane, Jacksonville
UTIL - Kenton Hering, FGCU 

FOLLOW ALONG
For constant, news, photos, videos and updates you can follow the baseball team on Twitter @FGCU_Baseball, Instagram @FGCU_Baseball or on Facebook: Facebook.com/FGCUBaseball. You can also find FGCU athletics on YouTube by visiting YouTube.com/FGCUEagles.

DAVE TOLLETT
In his 15th season of work, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 532-314-3 record (.627) as the only head coach in the program's history. He is a four-time ASUN Coach of the Year and has guided the Green and Blue to four ASUN Regular Season Championships. His team has been ranked nationally on several occasions by multiple media outlets and has coached 42 All-Conference selections, 27 draft picks, three current major leaguers, 15 current minor leaguers, four ASUN Pitchers of the Year, four All-Americans, three ASUN Players of the Year, one National Freshman Player of the Year, one National Player of the Year and one five-time MLB All-Star.

#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.