Tweet #eraubaseball

Boxscore

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - A pair of NAIA preseason top 10 teams met at Sliwa Stadium on Monday night as fifth-ranked Embry-Riddle played host to seventh-ranked Cumberland (Tenn.) in the first of a three-game series. It was the Eagles who emerged with an 8-5 victory over the visitors, behind some timely hitting and the left arm of Kevin Maloney. The win gives ERAU a 16-5 overall record as well as their 899th victory in program history, while the Bulldogs drop to 10-8 overall. The Blue and Gold broke an 8-8 tie in the all-time series between the two programs, and have now won three straight dating back to 2011.

Maloney and his counterpart, Devin Stovall worked smoothly through the first two and a half innings, but the Eagles' took the first lead of the game in the third thanks to an RBI groundout from Jordan Romero and a Ben Kline RBI single up the middle to give ERAU two unearned runs and a 2-0 advantage.

The Bulldogs threatened to tie it up or even take the lead in the fourth, but Maloney worked out of a bases-loaded jam with just one out by striking out Tyler Alford and getting Antonio Butler to fly out to right field to end the threat and strand three Bulldog runners, a trend that would continue the rest of the contest.

Stovall ran into further trouble in the fifth after walking Greg Smith to begin the inning. Smith stole second and then moved to third on Frankie Arias' groundout to the CU shortstop to put himself 90 feet from home plate. Romero delivered a one-out single through the left side to score Smith before Kline doubled to right center to put runners on second and third with just one out. Chris Page was intentionally walked to get to Ian MacGeorge, and the senior right fielder worked the count full before drawing an RBI bases-loaded walk to push the Eagle advantange to 4-0. Mitch Rainer entered to relieve Stovall and Rainer kept the Eagles from scoring any further to keep the Bulldogs in the game.

Cory Urquhart cut the CU deficit to 4-1 with an RBI single back at Maloney in the sixth, scoring William Henderson from third, but again Maloney minimized the damage by stranding three runners when Mike Mandarino flew out to deep right center for the final out of the frame.

Embry-Riddle appeared to take a commanding 8-1 lead in the seventh when Bulldog pitcher Christian Jennings gave up four runs to the Eagles. Kline walked and Page was hit by a pitch to put the first two batters on for ERAU; they both moved up a base on a ground ball from MacGeorge. Callahan Hood was intenionally walked to set up the double play, and that's exactly what Jennings thought he had when JT Warmoth grounded a ball to Urquhart at short, but an error by the second baseman allowed all the runners to be safe and Kline to score from third. Adam Cellini drew a bases-loaded walk for an RBI, pushing the Eagle lead to 6-1, and Arias recorded a single back up the middle that brought in Warmoth and pinch runner Brett Tressler from second.

Maloney got two outs in the eighth before giving way to Antwan Brown, and the Bulldogs took advantage of the pitching change, striking for four runs in the inning, including three on a homerun from Mandarino to bring the Bulldogs back to within three at 8-5.

David Lidyard took over for Brown in the ninth, and the Seattle, Wash. native had no trouble earning his first save of the year, getting two groundouts and a pop up to end the game and secure the 8-5 victory.

Maloney earned the win (5-0), throwing 7.2 innings, allowing two runs on nine hits while striking out eight. Lidyard was credited with the save (1) in his one-inning outing.

Stovall got the loss (1-2) for the Bulldogs, tossing 4.1 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits.

Romero was 1-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, while Arias, Kline, MacGeorge, Warmoth and Cellini all recorded an RBI for the Eagles.

Embry-Riddle and Cumberland will play their second of three games tomorrow, Tuesday, Mar. 6, at Sliwa Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.