Tweet #eraubaseball

Boxscore

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - A 75-minute rain delay didn't bother junior Kevin Maloney as the Eagle left-hander tossed a complete game shutout over the visiting Warriors of Indiana Tech on Saturday. The second game of the scheduled doubleheader was postponed due to heavy rain, and will be concluded tomorrow, Sunday, Mar. 11 at 1 p.m. The two teams will then meet in a nine-inning contest following the conclusion of the suspended game. The Eagles' record moves to 19-6 while the Warriors are now at 10-5.

Maloney was dominant for the Blue and Gold, starting from the first inning when he set the Warriors down in order, and then the second frame when he stranded a runner on second when a groundout from Andrew Garcia ended the inning.

The Eagles got a single run in the bottom of the second, and that proved to be all Maloney needed. The winning run came on a Greg Smith single to left field with two outs and the bases loaded, plating Ian MacGeorge.

Maloney struck out two of the three batters he faced in the third, and in the fourth, when IIT threatened with their first two batters reaching base safely, the Dunedin, Fla. native was at his best. Maloney got a ground ball from Eric Wald with runners at second and third, the runner at third, Collin DeDecker made a mistake by coming too far towards home, and he was putout, 6-5-2. Ignatius Mackenzie, who had been a perfect 13-for-13 on the week entering his at-bat, struck out for the second out of the inning, and Maloney ended the threat with a groundout from Tyler Watts.

Embry-Riddle pushed across an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth on a Jeff Lemon groundout to second base, bringing in MacGeorge after he singled with one out and moved to second on a single from JT Warmoth and then both Eagles moved up thanks to a wild pitch from IIT starter, Brandon Alger.

Maloney again faced a jam in the fifth, the Warriors loaded the bases with one out, but Craig Herrmann harmlessly popped up a pitch into shallow left field where ERAU shortstop Ben Kline put it away for the final out of the inning.

Maloney faced the minimum in the sixth and stranded his seventh Warrior in the seventh, getting a routine ground ball from Brandon Paletta that Warmoth easily handled at third to end the game.

Maloney (6-0), threw 100 pitches in seven innings, giving up just five hits, no walks and fanning six IIT batters.

Alger (2-1) got the loss for the visitors, surrendering two runs on seven hits with a pair of strikeouts.

Smith went 2-for-2 with an RBI, while MacGeorge was 2-for-3, scoring both of the Eagles' runs.

The second game will begin at 1 p.m. tomorrow in the top of the second inning with the score at 0-0.