Boxscore
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Embry-Riddle baseball has been in existence since 1989, and now in their 24th season of competition, the Eagles can add another accomplishment to the record books: 900 wins. No. 5 ERAU won a wild 10-6 game over No. 7 Cumberland (Tenn.) on Tuesday night for the 900th win in program history, the milestone comes against Head Coach
Randy Stegall's alma mater, Cumberland. Embry-Riddle improves to 17-5 in 2012, and the Bulldogs fall to 10-9 overall.
The Bulldogs stormed out to an early four-run lead in the first, having no trouble hitting Eagle starter,
Eric Green. Cory Urquhart began the game with a single to right center and moved to second on a passed ball. Sam Lind walked before Mike Mandarino singled to left field for an RBI that scored Urquhart. Josh McGee singled up the middle for another CU run, but
Frankie Arias misplayed the ball in center and Mandarino moved to third, giving CU a 2-0 lead. Brodie Ross brought in Mandarino on a groundout to
JT Warmoth at third, but the Bulldgos weren't done as William Henderson singled home McGee for the fourth and final run of the inning.
The Blue and Gold quickly answered back with a two-run bottom of the first, getting to Cumberland's starter, Chipper Smith. Arias singled to begin the frame, followed by a single from
Jordan Romero and a long fly ball from
Ben Kline that dropped at the wall for a base hit, loading the bases for
Chris Page. Page and
Ian MacGeorge recorded back-to-back sacrifice flies to cut the lead to 4-2 and give the Eagles some life.
Antonio Butler walked on five pitches to start the second, then stole second, and came all the way around to score on a pair of Eagle throwing errors. At this point,
Robbie Ratliff was called upon to relieve Green, and the junior from Bradenton, Fla. retired the first three hitters he faced to send ERAU back to the dugout.
CU's Smith hit Page with a pitch in the bottom of the third, and after throwing the first pitch for a ball to MacGeorge, he gave up a two-run homer to the Eagle's right fielder, bringing the score to 5-4 in favor of the visitors.
Ratliff surrendered one hit in the top of the fourth, but got Mandarino to strike out swinging for the third out, and his team would take the lead in the bottom-half of the inning thanks to a huge defensive miscue by the CU right fielder.
Arias doubled to right center with one out in the fourth before Romero struck out looking. Kline was intentionally walked to bring up cleanup hitter, Page. Again, Smith hit Page with a pitch, loading the bases for MacGeorge. MacGeorge swung at a 2-0 pitch from Smith and lifted it to shallow right center, Ross ran in to make the routine catch, but the ball popped right out of his glove, allowing all three Eagle baserunners to score, giving ERAU a 7-5 lead.
Ratliff worked out of a jam in the fifth after giving up a leadoff double to McGee, stranding the Bulldog's third baseman at third when Henderson grounded out to Kline at short to end the threat.
Neither team found the scoreboard as Ratliff and CU reliever Jessie Coe held their opponents in check, but the Eagles would strike for three runs in the seventh to push their advantage to 10-5.
Greg Smith beat out an infield single with one out to start the ERAU rally, moving to second on his third stolen base of the night. Arias brought him in with a single up the middle, and he moved to second on a Romero groundout to third. Kline then smacked his third homer of the year on the second pitch he saw from Coe, giving Embry-Riddle a comfortable five-run cushion.
The Bulldogs plated a single run in the eighth off of Ratliff, but that's all he would give up, making a nice snag of a ground ball from Ross to end the inning.
David Lidyard got the last three outs for the Eagles for the second night in a row, punctuating the victory with a strikeout of Butler to finalize the contest.
Ratliff (2-1) was the winner, pitching seven solid innings of relief, giving up just one run while scattering eight Bulldog hits.
Smith (3-3) got the loss for CU in four innings of work, allowing seven runs (four earned) on seven hits.
Arias went a perfect 3-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored, while MacGeorge recorded three RBIs on 1-for-4 hitting. Kline and Smith each collected two hits apiece.
The Eagles' all-time record is now 900-386-1 (.700) in 1,287 games.
No. 5 Embry-Riddle and No. 7 Cumberland will meet in the series finale, tomorrow (Wednesday, Mar. 7) at Sliwa Stadium, beginning at 6 p.m. The Bulldogs will take on Aquinas (Mich.) in a single, seven-inning game tomorrow at 3 p.m.
