DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The 15th-ranked Embry-Riddle Eagles saw their 2014 season come to an abrupt end on Thursday afternoon as No. 9 Southern Poly (Ga.) secured their third trip to the Avista-NAIA World Series with a 8-0 win over the Eagles in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round - Daytona Beach Bracket title game. The Hornets (45-17) bounced back from a 10-2 defeat on Wednesday, leaning on the left arm of Matt Miller while pounding out 13 hits in the win. Embry-Riddle (40-21) had its streak of six consecutive World Series appearances snapped, managing just three hits and a total of four baserunners in the loss.

Stetson Nelson and Miller matched up on the mound and both were great for five innings, neither allowing a run to score as the game moved swiftly to the sixth. Miller allowed a one-out single to Jordan Johnson in the first before retiring 17 consecutive ERAU batters.

The first run of the contest proved to be the only run the Hornets would need and it came in the top of the sixth. A leadoff walk followed by a steal and base hit put runners on the corners for SPSU. A strikeout from Nelson resulted in a wild pitch that pushed across a run and a 1-0 lead, but a double play that went first to home ended the inning as the Eagles recaptured some momentum.

Miller took what little momentum the Eagles had and gave it back to SPSU with a three-up, three-down frame in the last of the sixth, and the Hornets scored three runs in the seventh to effectively put the game away before four more came in to score in the eighth for the 8-0 final.

Embry-Riddle registered its 13th straight 40-win season in 2014, recording the seventh consecutive Sun Conference regular season title in program history. Eight seniors will bid farewell to the Embry-Riddle baseball team as Colt Hankamer, Kevin Lindheim, Jordan Johnson, Brian Johnson, Daniel Poncedeleon, Ronnie Lozada, Kyle Chastain and David Lidyard will all graduate from the program.