DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Baseball can be a crazy game. Friday afternoon's matchup between fifth-ranked Embry-Riddle and 17th-ranked Concordia proved that adage true as the top-seeded Eagles from Daytona Beach saw a three-run lead dissapear in the top of the ninth before scoring twice in the home-half of the inning to walk-off with a 7-6 win over second-seeded Concordia to earn a spot in the championship game of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round - Daytona Beach Bracket. Embry-Riddle will play tomorrow night at 6 p.m. while Concordia falls to the loser's bracket finale tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m.
Trailing 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth, Embry-Riddle catcher
Adam Cellini reached on an infield single to lead the frame off before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt from
Liam Goodall. A wild pitch with pinch hitter
Dillon Ennis at the dish moved Cellini to third, causing
Connor Williams to courtesy run for Cellini just 90 feet from home plate. Ennis, like he had done twice before, came through with an RBI on a groundout to second, scoring Williams and knotting things up at 6-6. For the first time all game,
Kyle Chastain reached on an infield single, representing the go-ahead run for the Blue and Gold. On the first pitch in
Jordan Romero's at-bat, Chastain took off on first movement, rounding second and third to score as Romero doubled to deep left-center, giving the home team a walk-off celebration at home plate.
Concordia took an early 1-0 lead on Embry-Riddle's
Stetson Nelson, scoring in the first on a Spencer Ofelt single, extending the cushion to 2-0 in the third, again on an Ofelt single.
Embry-Riddle couldn't figure out 2011 NCAA I Freshman All-American Cole Swanson as the junior lefty gave up just one hit through the first three innings. However, the hosts got a big fourth frame, pounding out four hits to take a 3-2 lead.
Jeff Lemon singled with one out against Swanson and
Kevin Lindheim launched his first home run at Sliwa Stadium over the fence in left to tie the game at 2-2. Lindheim's 350-foot shot was on a 3-2 Swanson pitch, and
Jordan Johnson followed up with a single down the left field line.
Mike Gragilla recorded his first of two RBIs with a double to left center and the Eagles found themselves in front by a run.
Nelson was fantastic for the Eagles from that point forward, not allowing another Concordia run until the ninth. Embry-Riddle got out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth with a rare, 1-2-3 double play on a suicide squeeze bunt attempt by CUI.
The Eagles pushed across two runs in the home-half of the sixth when Gragilla single in Lindheim and Goodall singled on a bunt a few batters later.
Nelson went out in the ninth to attempt to complete all nine innings on the mound, but a bunt went for a hit and a bloop single found grass in right to put the first two CUI batters on base. Ty Holm tripled on a 1-2 pitch, scoring two runners and putting himself at third with no outs.
Ronnie Lozada relieved Nelson at that point, giving up a sac fly for the tying run. Lozada hit the next batter and a double from Bryan Garza put runners at second and third. Ofelt was intentionally walked to load the bases, but Lozada walked the ggo-ahead run in before
Jon Rapose was called upon to stem the tide. Rapose struck out the first Eagle he faced before getting a groundout to first to end the frame.
The hosts chased Swanson from the game after Cellini's single and Romero accounted for the final with his double off of Blake Harrison.
Rapose (4-1) got the win on 0.2 innings of work while Harrison (4-1) was tagged with the loss.
Romero, Lemon and Gragilla each had two hits, and Lindheim and Gragilla recorded two RBIs each.
Embry-Riddle will need to be beaten twice by whoever comes out of the loser's bracket.
