DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – An impressive outing on the mound and a pair of crooked numbers on the scoreboard led the FGCU baseball team to an 8-1 win over Bethune-Cookman Sunday afternoon and its third-straight series win to begin the season. Making his second start of the season, Evan Lumbert tossed 6.0 innings and delivered 10 strikeouts for the Eagles (8-2), who shut down the Wildcats (4-9) for the second-straight day.

"Any time you can go on the road and win the series it's a positive," said head coach Dave Tollett. "We got a great performance from Lumbert and the bats continued to come through when we needed them. We look forward to our next series against Florida A&M.

The bats came through early once again as Kohl Gilmore (Fort Pierce, Fla./John Carroll HS/Indian River State) delivered in the first. Two innings later, Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) and scored on an Eli Lovell (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southwest HS/Kansas City Kansas Community College) knock. The Eagle cruised the rest of the way, courtesy of a four-run fourth to secure an 8-1 win for Lumbert (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS).

For the second day in a row, Gilmore came up with runners in scoring position in the opening frame and came through. His ground ball to third scored Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) for the early advantage. 

After two clean innings from Lumbert, FGCU struck again in the third in the form of a Garcia single back up the middle to plate Gage Morey (West Palm Beach, Fla./PB Central HS). One pitch later, Lovell doubled down the left field line to bring around Garcia.

Lumbert stranded a pair in the third, allowing the Eagles to come back and break the game open. All of FGCU's action came with two outs that began with a Coffers walk. Morey immediately followed with a double to left, bringing home Coffers to make it 4-0. A Gilmore infield single plated Morey before Garcia tripled and Hayes singled to make it 7-0.

Bethune-Cookman scored in the sixth before FGCU concluded the scoring with a Lovell single in the ninth.

Lumbert (2-0) tossed 6.0 innings, striking out 10 while allowing just three hits. Trey Vickery (Port Orange, Fla./Spruce Creek HS), Tyler Shuck (Cape Coral, Fla./Canterbury HS), and Kenton Hering (Melbourne, Fla./Viera HS/Eastern Florida State College) all tossed 1.0 inning.

Morey and Lovell both tallied three hits while Garcia and Christian Proffitt (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida Baker HS) recorded two. Gilmore, Garcia, and Lovell each brought in two.

UP NEXT
FGCU heads north to Tallahassee for a mid-week, two-game series with Florida A&M. The Eagles and Ratters begin Tuesday at 4 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 541-318-3 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.