DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A seven-run first paved the way for a 10-4 win for the FGCU baseball team Saturday afternoon, evening the weekend series with Bethune-Cookman. The Eagles (7-2) took advantage of four Wildcat (4-8) errors and compiled 13 hits in the win.

"I'm really happy with the way the guys bounced back today," said head coach Dave Tollett. "We were able to take advantage of the opportunities and even up the series. Dye pitched well and made sure we were able to keep the early lead to take the series tomorrow."

Seven runs on five hits and four B-CU errors gave Josh Dye (DeLand, Fla./DeLand HS) a comfortable advantage that the Eagles would not concede. The Eagles plated three more runs in the seventh after the hosts plated a pair in the second and fourth to cut the lead to 7-4, but FGCU held off any comeback to even the weekend series.

Back-to-back errors to lead off the game brought Kohl Gilmore (Fort Pierce, Fla./John Carroll HS/Indian River State) to the plate, who singled up the middle to bring in the game's first run. After Alex Brait (Viera, Fla./Viera HS) walked, Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) and Jay Hayes (Altamonte Springs, Fla./Lyman HS) singled as the runners moved station-to-station and make it a 3-0 ballgame. Following a wild pitch to make it 4-0, an infield single and an error made it 6-0 as the Eagles batted around in the opening frame. Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS), who led off the game, then capped the scoring with a knock to center to give FGCU a more than comfortable 7-0 lead.

Dye had allowed just a single in the first as the Eagles maintained the advantage. Bethune-Cookman did, however, plate a pair of runs in the second to make it a 7-2 contest and another two runs in the fourth to make it 7-4 but it would be as close as the hosts would get.

Dye's day would come to an end after 5.0 innings but would leave with a 7-4 lead at that point, giving way to Peyton Gray (Columbus, Ind./Columbus East HS/Gulf Coast State College) who worked 3.0 innings, striking out five in that time to keep B-CU off the board.

During that span, the Eagles struck again. In the seventh, Christian Proffitt (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida Baker HS) doubled with two away to score Hayes and Coffers followed with an RBI single to score a pair to make it 10-4.

Trey Vickery (Port Orange, Fla./Spruce Creek HS) worked the final inning for the Eagles and shut down the Wildcats to secure the 10-4 win.
Coffers led the way with a pair of hits and three RBI. Garcia tallied three hits, while Gilmore, Hayes, and Eli Lovell (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southwest HS/Kansas City Kansas Community College) collected two.

Dye (2-0) earns his second victory of the season, working 5.0 innings while striking out six while walking two. Gray struck out five over his 3.0 innings and Vickery allowed just a single in the ninth.

FGCU will try to make it three-straight series victories tomorrow at 1 p.m. against Bethune-Cookman.
 
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DAVE TOLLETT
In his 16th season, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 540-318-3 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.