DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - A week ago, the eighth-ranked Embry-Riddle Eagles' chances of advancing to the 2012 Avista-NAIA World Series looked bleak. ERAU had been eliminated from The Sun Conference Tournament for the first time ever and the Eagles weren't sure if they would receive a No. 1 seed in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round. On Saturday evening at ERAU's Sliwa Stadium all of that changed when the Eagles romped to a 10-4 victory over second-seeded Auburn Montgomery (Ala.), securing their fifth consecutive trip to Lewiston, Idaho for the World Series, and the 11th time the Blue and Gold has advanced to the final site in program history. The Warhawks end their season at 38-24 overall while Embry-Riddle improves to 43-16 after a perfect 3-0 Opening Round record in 2012.
Eagle starter
Kevin Maloney had won nine straight starts coming into the Opening Round finale, the only start Maloney hadn't won all season was his very first against the same Warhawks on Jan. 27, a game in which the lefty tossed six innings of three-hit ball, but did not receive a decision.
Maloney got a decision on Saturday after a shaky start, scattering 14 hits over eight innings of work, allowing four runs while striking out three AUM batters en route to a win.
ERAU managed only four runs in the first two games of the Opening Round, both 2-0 victories over Siena Heights (Mich.) and AUM earlier in the five-team event. However, the Eagles brought their bats to bear on four AUM pitchers on Saturday evening, pounding out 16 hits and 10 RBIs in the contest.
Greg Smith began the game with a single up the middle off of AUM starter, Michael Carden, then moved to second when
Jeff Lemon sacrifice bunted in the next at-bat.
Ben Kline beat out an infield single to put runners on the corners for
Ian MacGeorge . MacGeorge walked with two outs to set up a bases-loaded situation for senior
Frankie Arias . The Eagle center fielder drilled a ball past the diving AUM first baseman that went for two bases, scoring both Smith and Kline and gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
Logan Remson doubled in a run then scored the tying run in the home-half of the first to tie things up at 2-2, but the Eagles answered with a single run in the second thanks to a Lemon groundout that allowed Smith to score from third. Smith singled, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch to set up the Lemon RBI ground ball.
Once again the Warhawks were equal to the task of knotting the score in the last of the second, taking the game to the third, tied at 3-3.
For the third frame in a row the Eagles took a lead, this time for good, beginning when
Chris Page doubled down the left field line to begin the inning. Page moved to third on a wild pitch from Carden and scored when MacGeorge reached on a fielding error. MacGeorge moved around the base paths until
Adam Cellini brought him in with an RBI groundout to the AUM shortstop, pushing the Eagle lead to 5-3.
Maloney delivered the first of five straight scoreless innings in the bottom of the third, and his offense kept giving him insurance runs, plating one each in the fourth and fifth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth.
Page chased home Lemon from third with an RBI single in the fourth and Cellini recorded his second RBI groundout in the fifth, scoring Arias on the play.
Before the seventh inning began, Head Coach
Randy Stegall got his team together in front of the Eagle dugout, imploring his team to put the game out of reach, and that's exactly what they did, scoring twice in the seventh to take a 9-3 lead. MacGeorge led off the seventh against AUM reliever Wes Cook, and the Winter Park, Fla. native took the first pitch he saw over the fence in left field for his fifth long ball of the season. Smith later collected an RBI with a fielder's choice that allowed
Jordan Johnson to touch home for ERAU.
MacGeorge recorded his third RBI of the night in the eighth when he lifted a ball to left field with
Garrett Gee at third base, allowing Gee to tag up and score to account for the 10th Eagle run of the night.
David Lidyard relieved Maloney in the ninth, and the Seattle, Wash, native went three-up, three-down, including a fly ball from Remson that Smith put away in left for the final out of the contest.
Maloney improved to 9-0 in 2012 with his eight-inning performance, throwing 104 pitches for the Eagles.
MacGeorge collected three RBIs for the Blue and Gold, while Kline finished 4-for-5 with a run scored and both Arias and Cellini collected a pair of RBIs.
The Eagles become the fourth program in NAIA history to reach the World Series 11 or more times, and just the second ever to record five straight trips on two separate occasions. Lewis-Clark State, who received an automatic berth into the 10-team World Series is the other team to have done so.
The 10-team, double-elimination Avista-NAIA World Series begins May 25 and will conclude June 1 in Lewiston, Idaho. The pairings and schedule for the World Series will be announced after the conclusion of the other nine Opening Round tournaments across the country.
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