Boxscore
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The fifth-ranked Embry-Riddle Eagles opened up a packed week of baseball with a 9-4 victory over visiting Bellevue (Neb.) on Sunday night at Sliwa Stadium.
Frankie Arias contributed three runs and three RBIs offensively for the Blue and Gold, and
Daniel Eaton made his second straight impressive start, striking out nine to earn his first victory of the 2012 season. The Eagles move to 15-5 overall while BU slips to 6-7.
Eaton surrendered a leadoff single to Beau Dahmen to begin the game, but the junior from Warner Robbins, Ga. stranded the runner at third when he recorded his first of nine strikeouts by getting Sean Mattson to swing and miss at strike three to end the frame.
BU starter, Eric Locke, returned the favor in the bottom half of the first when he got
Chris Page to fly out to center field with
Ben Kline at second after Kline singled with two outs.
Eaton and Locke worked 1-2-3 innings in the second, but Locke ran into trouble in the third frame.
Adam Cellini began the inning with a single to left center, his courtesy runner,
David Belardes was called out at second on a fielder's choice ground ball from
Greg Smith. Smith stole second for his 11th swipe of the year before Arias brought him in with a double to right center. The senior centerfielder moved to third on a wild pitch from Locke before scoring on a Kline double down the left field line. Page drew a two-out walk before
Ian MacGeorge recorded the third RBI of the inning with a single through the left side, scoring Kine and giving ERAU a 3-0 lead.
Eaton delivered a shutdown inning in the fourth, and a fielding error by the Bruin's centerfielder allowed Smith to score in the bottom of the inning to push the Eagle advantage to 4-0.
Bellevue proved to be resilient with a four-run fifth inning to tie the game up at 4-4. Dan Smolinski, Spencer Duggan and Brent Jackson all recorded RBIs in the inning, the latter of which came on a bases-loaded walk.
The tie would not last long as the Eagles retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth when MacGeorge lifted a deep fly ball to center field that allowed Kline to score from third on the throw. Kline began the inning with a single to the shortstop before advancing to second on a throwing error by the shortstop, and then to third on a Page fly ball to right center. The run, which proved to be the winning one, gave Embry-Riddle a 5-4 lead.
Eaton was near perfect in his last two innings, allowing just one Bruin to reach base. He was helped with a pair of insurance runs in the sixth, the first coming off an infield single from Arias, scoring
JT Warmoth from third, and the second on an RBI single from
Jordan Romero.
Eric Green entered the game in the eighth for Eaton with a 7-4 lead and gave up just one hit in the final two frames earning the first save of the season for the Eagle pitching staff.
ERAU tacked on two final runs in the home half of the eighth, including one on Arias' third RBI of the night, chasing in Cellini's courtesy runner, Belardes, after the Eagle catcher tripled to begin the frame. Arias himself scored on a throwing error by the Bellevue catcher after he stole third.
Eaton earned the win with his 7.0-inning effort (1-1), allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out nine on 121 pitches. Green got the save (1) with his 2.0-inning effort, fanning five Bruins and giving up just one hit. The 14 combined strikeouts were the second-most ever in a single game in Embry-Riddle program history.
Arias was 3-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs, while MacGeorge finished 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs.
The Eagles will be in action tomorrow (Monday, Mar. 5) when they take on No. 7 Cumberland (Tenn.) at 6 p.m. at Sliwa Stadium. The Bruins and Bulldogs will meet at 2 p.m. tomorrow, also at Sliwa Stadium.
