Boxscore
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - Giovanni Zayas doubled to right-center to bring home the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth on Friday evening at Frank R. Esposito Stadium, propelling the 12th-ranked Bobcats of St. Thomas to a 4-3 win over visiting fourth-ranked Embry-Riddle in Sun Conference action. The Eagles drop to 33-12 overall and 17-5 in conference play while the Bobcats improve to 32-9 overall and 15-6 in league action. ERAU now leads St. Thomas by just 1.5 games in TSC standings and two games over South Carolina Beaufort.
Daniel Eaton was matched up with Ashlee Bulluck on the mound, as both pitchers brought their best stuff to the series opener. Eaton was near-perfect through the first six innings, only allowing one hit to the STU offense. However, Bulluck was equal to the task, keeping the Eagles off the scoreboard until the sixth.
Greg Smith led off the visitor-half of the sixth with a double to left-center, his 100th hit in an Eagle uniform.
Frankie Arias brought Smith in with a triple down the right field line, before scoring on
Jeff Lemon's sacrifice fly to center field.
Eaton set down St. Thomas in order in the bottom-half of the frame to keep the momentum in the ERAU dugout. Ricky Claudio relieved Bulluck in the seventh, and worked a perfect inning for the Bobcats.
A pair of infield errors allowed an unearned run to score for STU in their half of the seventh, but the Eagles were able to respond in the eighth with a run of their own. Smith reached first on a fielder's choice and stole second to put himself in scoring position. Smith moved to third on a wild pitch and tagged third and scored on Arias' flyout to center.
Luis Jimenez evened things up in the eighth with a two-run home run down the left field line after Nicholas Perez collected in infield single to begin the inning. The homer knotted the score at 3-3, but Eaton was able to get out of the rest of the inning unscathed.
Ben Kline beat on an infield single to start the ninth, but the Eagles failed to bring him in, giving the Bobcats a chance to end the game in the bottom of the inning, and that's what they did thanks to Zayas' one-out double off Eagle reliever
David Lidyard.
The Eagles and Bobcats will be back at it again tomorrow at 12 p.m. in a doubleheader.
