JACKSON, Miss. – A pair of big innings set the tone for a 9-4 victory for the FGCU baseball team Sunday afternoon against Jackson State, securing yet another sweep in the 2018 season. The Eagles (22-5) earned their fifth series sweep of the year by plating two runs in the fifth and five more in the sixth against the Tigers (17-10).

The win also extends FGCU's win streak to a season-high nine games.

"Any time you can go on the road against a team like Jackson State and come away with three wins, it's big," said head coach Dave Tollett. "This is a focused group right now and it shows. Our bats continue to come through for us and our pitching was solid all weekend. Now we focus on Florida."

FGCU required only seven hits to plate nine runs, taking advantage of 11 walks and four Jackson State errors. The Eagles grabbed an early lead before breaking the game open in the sixth with a five-run inning. JSU tallied three runs late but could not close the gap further, completing the sweep for FGCU with a second-consecutive 9-4 win.

The Green and Blue jumped in front immediately on a Kohl Gilmore (Fort Pierce, Fla./John Carroll HS/Indian River State) RBI single to center that brought in Marc Coffers (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) before the inning ended with two Eagles left on base.

In his first career start, Justin Gill (Winter Haven, Fla./Lake Region HS/Polk State) struck out two and worked around a one-out double to keep the Tigers off the board in the first before posting a clean frame in the second.

The Eagles then left two runners on in the third and two more in the fourth before the home side tied the ballgame in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double. Gill tossed 3.2 in his first start before giving way to Peyton Gray (Columbus, Ind./Columbus East HS/Gulf Coast State College) who got the Eagles out of the inning with a groundout.

Tied at 1-1, the Green and Blue received an important lift from Richie Garcia (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS), who belted his fourth home run of the season to lead off the fifth. After Alex Brait (Viera, Fla./Viera HS) singled and ultimately moved to third, Eric Gonzalez (Miami, Fla./American Senior HS/ASA College) brought him in with a knock to left.

Following a dominant bottom half from Gray, the bats went back to work and broke the game open with a five-run sixth.

Coffers led off the frame by getting hit by a pitch and stealing second before a wild pitch advanced him to third. Following a Gage Morey (West Palm Beach, Fla./PB Central HS) walk, Gilmore came through again with his first career triple to increase the lead to 5-1. Two walks later, the bases were loaded with nobody out for Spencer Levine (Miami, Fla./Miami Killian Senior HS/Seminole State College), who was hit by the first pitch in his at-bat to make it 6-1.

Jackson State managed a double play to limit the damage for the time being, until Christian Proffitt (Cape Coral, Fla./Ida Baker HS) singled to center to bring in Brait, putting the Green and Blue in front 8-1.

The Tigers posted a single run in the sixth and two more in the eighth before Proffitt drove in another run on a sacrifice fly for the 9-4 lead.

Gill allowed one run on three hits, striking out four batters against zero walks. Gray (2-1) tossed 4.0 innings, conceding three runs on four hits to earn the win while Trey Vickery (Port Orange, Fla./Spruce Creek HS) and Kenton Hering (Melbourne, Fla./Viera HS/Eastern Florida State College) combined to work the final 1.1. Hering fanned two in his inning of action.

Gilmore and Proffitt each had two hits with Gilmore driving in three to lead the Green and Blue at the plate.

UP NEXT
FGCU remains on the road and travels to Gainesville to meet #2 Florida Tuesday night at 6 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 555-321-3 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.