FORT MYERS, Fla. - The sixth-ranked Embry-Riddle Eagles dropped the first game of the 2013 Sun Conference Baseball Tournament on Tuesday to sixth-seeded University of South Carolina Beuafort, 2-0 in 11 innings. The extra-inning affair was the third first-round game for the Eagles that went more than the scheduled nine in the five years since the reintroduction of the conference tournament. Embry-Riddle (40-13) will face elimination tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. when they take on the loser of Ave Maria and Southeastern. The Sand Sharks (24-21) will advance to take on the loser of St. Thomas and Webber International tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Blue and Gold starting pitcher Stetson Nelson did everything he could to give the Eagles a win, throwing 10 innings of shutout baseball against USCB, striking out four Sand Sharks and surrendering seven hits. However, Nelson was matched by USCB's ace Miles Galvin as the Sand Shark hurler threw seven frames, not allowing a run and scattering four hits while striking out one.

The Eagles struggled all game long trying to get runners past third base. On five occassions, the Eagles had a runner in scoring position with less than two outs but failed to bring him in, resulting in a scoreless game for 10+ frames.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Blue and Gold had runners on the corners after a single, sacriifce bunt and infield error, but a strikeout and a subsequent groundout ended the Eagle threat and sent the game to extras.

Again in the 10th Embry-Riddle had two runners on, this time with no outs, but a perfectly executed wheel play by the USCB defense on a sac bunt attempt got the lead runner out at third and after the fourth error by the Sand Sharks allowed the bases to become loaded with just one out, a ground ball doule play ended the inning.

Nelson was relieved by Ronnie Lozada to start the 11th and two singles put runners on the corners after one out. Lozada struckout Terry McClinto for the second out, but a base hit by Ryan Walker was placed perfectly in no-man's land between third base and the pitcher's mound, scoring one and giving the Sand Sharks a lead. An insurance run was brought in by Ryan Doeppel for a 2-0 lead and Kyle McCullough earned his sixth win of the year by facing the minimum in the home-half of the 11th to give USCB the win.