FORT MYERS, Fla. – A solid defensive effort highlighted by three double plays and a play at the plate helped swing momentum in favor of the FGCU baseball team as the Eagles (13-2) swept Evansville with a 7-3 victory Sunday. With the win against the Purple Aces (5-8), the Green and Blue have now won seven-straight.

"Sweeps are hard at this level and we respect it," said head coach Dave Tollett. "When we get it, we cherish it because they are tough to get. No one wants to be swept and teams are so close. Lumbert was pretty good and they did a good job of closing the game. That throw by Lovell to keep us in the lead was a huge play for us. It gave us momentum back and we were able to put up some runs because of it. That was a game-changing play."

Leading from the third inning on, the Green and Blue utilized three double plays and a perfect throw from Eli Lovell (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southwest HS/Kansas City Kansas Community College) in left to hold off a late rally from Evansville and sweep the Purple Aces. The Eagles scored a run in the third on aggressive base running before building a cushion with a three-run fourth, thanks in part to a Jake Smith (Windermere, Fla./Windermere Prep) RBI single. After the visitors cut the lead to 4-2, Evansville thought they had tied the game in the eighth only for Lovell to cut down the runner at the plate to keep FGCU in front 4-3. The Eagles then took advantage of a pair of errors in the bottom half, scoring three times before Kenton Hering (Melbourne, Fla./Viera HS/Eastern Florida State College) returned to the mound for his second save and Evan Lumbert's (Orlando, Fla./Boone HS/South Florida State) third win.

Making his third start, Lumbert allowed two base runners through the first three innings but negated one with a pickoff at second. During that stretch, the junior struck out four batters including striking out the side in the third.

With the game scoreless, FGCU's top of the order made the most of its second at-bats as both Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) and Gage Morey (West Palm Beach, Fla./PB Central HS) reached. With the duo at the corners, Morey took a late break to second and delayed the tag long enough for Coffers to score to make it a 1-0 ballgame.

Evansville put its leadoff runner on in the fourth, only for the Eagles to turn the first of their three double plays on the day. Troy Beilsmith took off from first on a hit-and-run, only for Tanner Craig to pop the ball up to Christian Proffitt (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida Baker HS) who caught it and fired to first to end the inning.

FGCU again put its first two runners on in the first and then loaded the bases for Smith, who found the hole on the right side and brought in both Lovell and Jay Hayes (Altamonte Springs, Fla./Lyman HS) to increase FGCU's lead to 3-0. Three batters later, Morey scored Alex Brait (Viera, Fla./Viera HS) on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0 to the Eagles.

Lumbert's day came to an end after five innings, which included another double play in the fifth to negate an earlier hit by pitch. In the sixth, however, the Purple Aces struck on a two-out, two-run home run to make it a 4-2 game.

Evansville nearly completed the comeback in the eighth but Lovell made sure FGCU remained in front. With runners at second and third and two outs, a single to left scored one but Lovell's arm prevented the second run from scoring. The senior fired a strike to Spencer Levine (Miami, Fla./Miami Killian Senior HS/Seminole State College), who applied the tag and kept FGCU in front 4-3.

The Green and Blue capitalized on two Evansville errors in the eighth, both coming off bunts. The first error, allowed Levine to move to third and put Smith at first while the second brought in both runners on a Coffers' bunt single. Morey then scored Coffers on a double to extend the advantage of 7-3.

Hering allowed three singles in the final inning, two of which were between a pair of strikeouts, but forced a ground ball to end the game and complete the win. Hering worked the final 2.0 innings, striking out four in that time.

Lumbert (3-0) allowed just three hits over his 5.0 innings with four strikeouts against one walk. Bryan Wilcox (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) made a brief appearance and surrendered one run while Sebastian Gruszecki (Dudley, Mass./Shepherd Hill Regional HS) and Trey Vickery (Port Orange, Fla./Spruce Creek HS) each worked an inning.

Offensively, Coffers, Morey, and Hayes all produced two hits with Smith and Morey tallying two RBI.

UP NEXT
The Eagles stay in-state but travel north on I-75 to meet USF Tuesday at 6:30 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 546-318-3 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.