Adam Cellini drove in two runs for the Eagles.
Boxscore
THOMASVILLE, Ga. - The fifth-ranked Embry-Riddle Eagles erased an early 4-0 deficit and scored four unanswered runs late in the game to come away with a 9-6 victory over the Thomas (Ga.) Night Hawks on the road on Wednesday afternoon. ERAU pushes its winning streak to eight consecutive games and the overall record to 9-2 while TU goes to 5-3 on the year.
Daniel Eaton got the nod for the Eagles on the mound, and his counterpart was TU's Neil Hunter. The Eagle junior surrendered four runs in the bottom of the second inning on four hits, two runs coming on an Alex Williams' single down the left field line. Williams would be cut down at the plate later in the inning to end the frame, but the damage was done as Thomas possessed a 4-0 lead heading into the top of the third.
The Eagles continued their season trend of answering right back after an opponent scores with four runs of their own in the top of the third inning.
Frankie Arias got things started with an infield single before moving to third on a fielding error by the second baseman that allowed senior
Ben Kline to reach first base safely. A wild pitch from Hunter moved Kline to second and brought Arias home for the first ERAU run of the afternoon.
Chris Page launched a double down the right field in the next at-bat, bringing in Kline and cutting the Thomas lead to 4-2. After a groundout recorded the first out of the inning,
Mike Gragilla was hit by a pitch and
Callahan Hood walked to load the bases for
Adam Cellini. The Eagle catcher worked the count full before collecting an RBI base on balls, scoring Page.
Garrett Gee, in his first start of his ERAU career, tied the game up at four with a fielder's choice that scored Gragilla from third base.
Tied at 4-4, Eaton kept the Eagles even with the Night Hawks, not allowing a run over the next three innings. The Blue and Gold took a brief 5-4 lead in the top of the sixth when
Tyler Robbins earned a one-out walk before stealing second and moving to third on a dirt ball from Thomas pitcher Joey Vittelo. Arias got an RBI on the next pitch with a groundout to short, chasing Robbins in from third.
The Thomas batters retook the lead in the home-half of the frame with two runs off of Eaton before he was relieved by fellow junior
Robbie Ratliff to get the last out of the inning.
A fourth lead change occurred in the seventh as the Eagles scored two runs to move ahead 7-6, a lead Ratliff would never relinquish. Cellini and Gee picked up their second RBIs of the contest with back-to-back singles through the left side, scoring
Ian MacGeorge and Gragilla respectively.
Ratliff went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh, keeping the momentum in the ERAU dugout, and the Eagles took advantage, pushing across a pair of insurance runs in the eighth. Arias scored on a wild pitch, the second time in the game, and MacGeorge doubled to left center to score Kline and giving Ratliff a 9-6 cushion.
Ratliff stranded two runners in the eighth and worked a perfect ninth to collect his first win of the 2012 season, giving ERAU their fifth straight win over Thomas.
The Night Hawks out hit the Eagles, 13-6 and both teams committed two errors, but it was the Blue and Gold with nine runs to Thomas' six.
Six different Eagles had a hit as Cellini and Gee drove in two runs and Arias, Kline and Gragilla scored two runs each.
Embry-Riddle will put its streak on the line on Friday against Webber International in the first of a three-game Sun Conference set with the Warriors at Sliwa Stadium.
