FORT MYERS, Fla. – For the third time this weekend FGCU baseball walked off Eastern Michigan, this time by an 8-7 final in Sunday's finale as Spencer Levine provided the heroics. Levine's RBI single in the ninth completed FGCU's (4-0) sweep over EMU (0-4) to open the 2018 season.

Squaring up the first pitch of his at-bat, Levine brought in Tyler Yeager from third, concluding a 3.5-hour ballgame that featured both sides leading at various stages. The senior joins Alex Brait and Gage Morey on the list of walk-off heroes.

"It's Swanson and special things happen here," said head coach Dave Tollett. "To do it three times, I don't think we've had three walk-off wins in a series. There was great timely hits, the hit by pitch -- our bottom of the order really kept us alive. And Lumbert gave us a chance, he gave us a spark. He's a bulldog and he's a fighter."

FGCU trailed throughout the majority of the game after Eastern Michigan scored three runs in the first two innings of play. The Eagles tied the contest at 4-4 in the sixth on a Gage Morey (West Palm Beach, Fla./PB Central HS) single to center but immediately conceded a run in the seventh and eighth to trail 6-4. With two on, Kohl Gilmore (Fort Pierce, Fla./John Carroll HS/Indian River State) crushed his second home run of the season, giving FGCU a slim 7-6 edge but another unearned run in the ninth forced the Green and Blue to go back to the plate in the bottom half. After Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) was hit by a pitch and wound up at third following an error and a passed ball, Levine (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southwest HS/Kansas City Kansas Community College) drove the ball the other way to score Yeager (Fort Myers, Fla./Riverdale HS) who had come on to run for Garcia.

The win marks the first opening weekend sweep since FGCU took three from Temple in 2010 and the first-ever sweep of a four-game series to open a season. In addition, FGCU's 4-0 start is the first such start since 2008.

Tyler Shuck (Cape Coral, Fla./Canterbury HS) made his FGCU pitching debut in the weekend finale and was rudely greeted by Eastern Michigan, scoring twice in the opening inning until Gilmore snagged a line drive with the bases loaded and stepped on the bag to limit the damage. FGCU picked up the freshman, tying the game on RBI singles off the bats of both Brait (Viera, Fla./Viera HS) and Garcia.

After EMU plated another run in the second, the visitors threatened again in the third and calling the bullpen into action. With the bases loaded and only one out, Christian Townsend (Safety Harbor, Fla./Countryside HS) and Trey Vickery (Port Orange, Fla./Spruce Creek HS) got out of the jam, keeping the score at 3-2.

An unearned run in the fourth extended the visitor's lead to 4-2 however before Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) hit a sacrifice fly to center scoring Levine to make it 4-3. With newcomer Evan Lumbert (Orlando, Fla./Boone HS/South Florida State) on the mound posting a clean inning in fifth and sixth, Morey singled to left to score Jake Smith (Windermere, Fla./Windermere Prep), tying the game.

Errors continued to cost the Eagles when two more miscues brought in runs in both the seventh and eighth for EMU, putting the visitors in front 6-4. Gilmore changed all that with one swing of the bat with a two-out, three-run home run to center to give FGCU a 7-6 advantage.

However, another error allowed Eastern Michigan to tie the game at 7-7 to send the game into the bottom of the ninth. Garcia got FGCU going, reaching on a hit by a pitch before moving to second on a failed pickoff move that got away. Yeager then came on to run for the sophomore and moved to third on a wild pitch. On the first pitch thrown, Levine found room in right-center to complete the sweep and secure FGCU's third walk-off of the year.

Shuck tossed 2.1 innings, allowing three runs on two hits. Townsend and Vickery each recorded an out before giving way to Lumbert (1-0). The Orlando-native worked the final 6.0 innings, allowing just one earned run on seven hits while striking out six.

Smith tallied three hits in the win, scoring twice. Christian Proffitt (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida Baker HS) also notched a pair of hits. Gilmore meanwhile scored twice and drove in three.

UP NEXT
FGCU remains at home, opening a three-game series with East Tennessee State Friday at 6:30 p.m. FGCU and ETSU then meet Saturday at 2 p.m. with the finale slated for Sunday at 1 p.m.

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 16th season, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 537-316-3 record (.626) as the only head coach in the program's history and is coming off the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament. He is a four-time ASUN Coach of the Year and has guided the Green and Blue to four ASUN Regular Season Championships and one ASUN Tournament Championship. His team has been ranked nationally on several occasions, including as high as #9 in the country in 2017, and has coached 49 All-Conference selections, 29 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.