Boxscore
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - The sixth-ranked Embry-Riddle Eagles did what they needed to do on Sunday afternoon at Frank R,. Esposito Stadium, avoid a three-game sweep by St. Thomas by coming away with a come-from-behind 6-4 victory. The Eagles move to 34-13 overall and 18-6 in The Sun Conference; they hang on to a one-game lead over South Carolina-Beaufort and a 1.5-game lead over St. Thomas in the leage standings. STU drops to 33-10 and 16-7.
The Eagles struck first, plating a single run in the top of the first frame when
Ben Kline scored
Tyler Robbins from third on an RBI fielder's choice.
St. Thomas answered in the bottom of the second, taking a 2-1 lead when Luis Jimenez belted a solo shot over the fence in left, his second homer of the series.
The Eagles failed to respond in the third or fourth, but St. Thomas extended their lead to 3-1 with a run in the home-half of the fourth.
Another STU run in the fifth forced Eagle starter
Eric Green out of the game, allowing
Robbie Ratliff to enter in relief.
The Eagles put together a rally in the seventh, loading the bases with one out for
Greg Smith. Smith drew a walk to bring in one run, and in the next at-bat,
Frankie Arias collected a hit to plate one more run, and it appeared the tying run, but Smith was called out at third, and the home plate umpire ruled that the tying-run did not cross the plate before the final out was recorded, leaving the Eagles still trailing, 4-3.
Ratliff allowed the only baserunner in his outing during the seventh, issuing a walk to Hector Acosta with two away. However, Ratliff got the next batter to groundout to third, sending the Eagles back into the dugout.
The eighth inning held the magic for Embry-Riddle, with ERAU taking the lead on three runs in the frame. Kline led it off with a hit by pitch and Page doubled to center to put runners on second and third with no outs.
JT Warmoth drew a walk to load the bags and
Mike Gragilla followed that with a walk of his own, scoring Kline.
Jeff Lemon singled home the go-ahead run in the next at-bat, and the final Eagle run scored when
Adam Cellini grounded out.
Ratliff was perfect over the final six outs, and a groundout to Kline at short ended the contest with ERAU ahead, 6-4.
Ratliff (6-2) was the winner, pitching the final 4.1 innings without giving up a hit while fanning four Bobcats.
Arias went 3-for-5 with an RBI, and Kline, Gragilla, Lemon and Smith all added an RBI for the Eagles.
ERAU travels to Tampa, Fla. on Tuesday to take on NCAA II No. 1 Tampa in a non-conference game.
