Boxscore
TAMPA, Fla. - NCAA II No. 1 Tampa (Fla.) pounded out 18 hits en route to a 9-5 win over NAIA No. 8 Embry-Riddle on Tuesday night. The Spartans move to 31-7 with the victory while the Eagles drop to 34-14. The 18 hits tied the most the ERAU pitching staff has given up in 2012.
A reshuffling of the lineup caused
Greg Smith to leadoff for the Eagles, and Smith raced to second when his ground ball was thrown away by the Spartan third baseman. Smith moved to third when
JT Warmoth grounded out, and
Chris Page brought in the game's first run with a single back up the middle.
David Lidyard got his first start as an Eagle, immediately finding himself in a jam in the Tampa first with runners on the corners with just one out. However, the Seattle, Wash. native ended the threat by inducing a ground ball double play that Warmoth,
Ben Kline and Page combined on to send the Eagles back into the dugout with the 1-0 lead.
The Eagles got two hits in the top of the second, but bad base running cancelled out the runners, and ERAU failed to extend their advantage.
Lidyard hit the first batter he faced in the home-half of the second, and it would come around to haunt him when Raiko Alfonso doubled the runner home later in the inning. The Spartans put runners on the corners after the tying run crossed the plate, but Lidyard struck one batter out and got the final batter to fly out to
Mike Gragilla in right field.
Back-to-back infield singles started the Tampa third, and Eric Grabe brought both runners in with an RBI single through the left side, giving the Spartans a 3-1 lead. Grabe moved to third before Alfonso brought in his second run of the day with a single to right field, pushing the Spartan lead to 4-1.
The Blue and Gold offense came alive in the fourth, scoring four times to take a 5-4 lead against Spartan starter Eric Luksis. Arias collected a one-out single, then moved to second on
Jeff Lemon's single through the right side.
Matt Skipper brought in Arias with a base hit before
Mike Gragilla struck out looking for the second out of the frame.
Nick Godfrey collected an RBI with a single, then he and Skipper moved up a base on a fielding error by the Tampa center fielder.
Greg Smith got a pair of RBIs in the following at-bat, driving a pitch back up the middle, scoring both runners, and giving the Eagles the lead.
Carlos Saade hit his first homer of the season to kick start the Spartan fourth, knotting the score at 5-5. Andrew Jones gave the Spartans a lead with a solo homer with two outs in the inning, allowing Tampa to retake a 6-5 advantage.
In the home-half of the fifth, Alfonso began a Tampa rally by doubling to right and scoring on Shane Rowland's single. After Saade bunted for a hit, Lidyard was relieved by
Robbie Ratliff, and the Bradenton, Fla. native got Connor Obrochta to ground into an inning-ending double play to send the game to the sixth.
ERAU stranded two runners in scoring position in the top of the sixth, and Tampa looked like they would make it hurt, loading the bases against Ratliff in the bottom of the inning. However, Ratliff snagged a line drive off the bat of Alfonso to end the inning, stranding the Spartans on the bases and keeping the deficit at 7-5.
Ratliff surrendered his first runs in two weeks in the Tampa seventh when a pair of Spartans scored on Damon Elder's double to the wall in right field, giving UT a 9-5 advantage heading into the final two innings.
Daniel Eaton pitched a perfect eighth for the Eagles, but ERAU was unable to mount a comeback, sending just three batters to the plate in the ninth.
Lidyard (5-2) received the loss, he threw 4.1 innings, giving up seven runs on 14 hits while striking out two. Ratliff tossed 2.2 innings, allowing two runs on four hits with one strikeout and Eaton finished the game, pitching the final frame.
Both Lemon and Skipper recorded three hits for ERAU, while Smith drove in a pair of RBIs. However, Kline saw his 13-game hitting streak come to end, it was the first time since Mar. 25 that the Omaha, Neb. native did not record a hit.
The Eagles dropped two places in Tuesday's NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll to eighth overall. ERAU received 427 total points in the poll, falling from last week's sixth spot. LSU-Shreveport topped the poll for the third straight week, while Oklahoma City, Lee (Tenn.), Azusa Pacific (Calif.) and Faulkner (Ala.) complete the top five.
Sun Conference members St. Thomas and South Carolina Beaufort also found themselves in the poll, with the Bobcats at No. 13 and the Sand Sharks at No. 19.
The Eagles travel to Ave Maria, Fla. this weekend for the final Sun Conference series of the 2012 season.
