#3 Embry-Riddle (14-9, 11-1) def. Thomas (13-12, 8-4) 3/8/14 | Daytona Beach, Fla. - Sliwa Stadium | A: 216 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Thomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 Embry-Riddle 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 X 2 8 1 Pitching IP H R ER BB SO W: Wagner (1-1) 3.2 2 0 0 2 3 L: Gainey (2-2) 5.0 4 1 1 2 10 S: Lozada (4) 1.0 1 0 0 1 3 Batting AB R H RBI BB HR Knight (ERAU) 4 0 2 0 0 0 Montana (ERAU) 3 0 2 1 1 0 Johnson (ERAU) 3 0 2 0 0 0 Related Links • Box Score • Season Stats

#3 Embry-Riddle (13-11, 10-1) def. Thomas (13-11, 8-3) 3/8/14 | Daytona Beach, Fla. - Sliwa Stadium | A: 216 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Thomas 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 7 1 Embry-Riddle 0 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 X 6 11 2 Pitching IP H R ER BB SO W: Nelson (4-1) 7.0 6 2 2 0 6 L: Overman (4-2) 6.0 9 6 6 3 4 Batting AB R H RBI BB HR Montana (ERAU) 4 0 4 2 0 0 Johnson (ERAU) 5 1 2 1 0 0 Cavender (ERAU) 3 2 2 0 1 0 Related Links • Box Score • Season Stats

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle Eagles completed their third consecutive Sun Conference sweep on Saturday with two wins over Thomas, 6-2 and 2-0 to register the sweep of the Night Hawks on the weekend. The Eagles (14-9, 11-1) recorded 11 hits while riding the arm of preseason All-American Stetson Nelson in Saturday's opener before four ERAU pitchers combined for a six-hit shutout of TU in the finale, 2-0. Thomas (13-12, 8-4) fell back into a tie for third with St. Thomas while Southeastern (18-7, 9-3) moved into sole possession of second place in The Sun Conference behind the Blue and Gold.

The Eagles play host to No. 10 Cumberland (Tenn.) in a doubleheader on Tuesday before Clarke (Iowa) visits Sliwa Stadium on Wednesday to take on ERAU.
 
Game 1 – Box Score
 
Nelson scattered six hits over seven innings in Saturday's first game en route to his fourth win of the season, striking out six Night Hawk batters and allowing just two runs on 89 pitches. But it was the visitors who struck first, taking a 1-0 lead when Jeremy Crosby grounded out to first, scoring Trey Griffin from third after the TU right fielder tripled with one out in the second inning. It was the first triple, and just third extra-base hit surrendered by the Leesburg, Fla. native in 2014.

The Eagles answered quickly in the home half of the second when Kyle Buchanan knotted the score with a sac fly to right, bringing in Jordan Johnson, and after Nelson went three-up, three-down in the top of the third the Eagles took advantage of a Thomas miscue to go up 4-1.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Thomas starter Ben Overman struck out Hunter Bruehl with a ball in the dirt, but the pitch squirted away from the Night Hawk catcher and Bruehl reached first safely as Jake Cavender crossed the plate, giving Embry-Riddle its first lead of the game. J Rhet Montana collected his second hit of the game with a single through the left side of the infield during the next at-bat, plating two Eagle runners for a 4-1 cushion.

Nelson struck out the side in the fourth before Darryl Knight and Johnson chased in runs with RBI singles as the home team enjoyed a 6-1 advantage.

An Austin Corbitt single in the fifth plated Griffin for the second time in the contest as Thomas cut into the Eagle lead, but that proved to be the final run for the visitors in the series as they were held scoreless over the final 13 innings of play.

Thomas threatened to score in the sixth by loading the bases with just one out, sending Griffin to the dish, but Nelson got a huge line out double play that went from short to second as TU was held without a run.

David Lidyard appeared in his second of three games on the weekend by relieving Nelson to start the eighth, getting a double play himself as he faced one over the minimum in his two innings of relief.

Jake Cavender scored twice while going 2-for-3 from the plate, and the Eagle tandem of Montana and Johnson finished 4-for-4 and 2-for-5 respectively for the Blue and Gold.

Game 2 - Box Score

In the series finale, the hosts held on to a slim, 1-0 lead for nearly the entire game before an insurance run in the eighth helped propel the Eagles to a 2-0 win. Corey Tufts, Clayton Wagner, Lidyard and Ronnie Lozada combined to throw the third shutout of the 2014 season, holding the TU offense to just six hits while recording 11 strikeouts.

Thomas skipper Mike Lee turned to closer John Gainey to try and salvage a win in the final game of the series, and Gainey did all he could to keep his team in the game, striking out 10 ERAU batters in just five frames, allowing one run on four hits with a pair of walks.

The only run Gainey allowed occurred in the first when Cavender walked and moved to second on Kevin Lindheim's single before advancing to third on a wild pitch. With two outs on the board, Lindheim attempted to get in a run down between first and second, succeeding, and was able to avoid the tag by the first baseman as he retreated to the bag, allowing Cavender to scamper home for a 1-0 Eagle lead.

Tufts, the ERAU starter, stranded a pair of Night Hawks in the second, as well as the third, but Gainey did the same against the Embry-Riddle offense, ending both innings with strikeouts.

After a walk and single put the first two Thomas batters on base in the fifth, Wagner entered and struck out two TU hitters and induced a harmless pop up from the Thomas cleanup hitter to escape the frame with a 1-0 lead.

Justin Hicks relieved Gainey in the sixth, stranding a trio of Eagles on the bases to keep his team just one run down.

In the eighth, after a double by Griffin with two outs, Lidyard came in for Wagner and threw just one pitch as Crosby fouled out to first baseman Matt Jacobs to end the inning.

Montana added some insurance in the last of the eighth with a triple down the right field line, scoring Logan Bailey from second after Knight singled and his courtesy runner advance on Johnson's sacrifice bunt.

Lozada recorded his fourth save of the year by striking out the side in the ninth, working around a single and walk to strand the final two Thomas runners on the bases.

Montana and Johnson were both 2-for-3 while Knight went 2-for-4 and Cavender and Lindheim both collected hits.

Wagner (1-1) got the win in relief, throwing 3.2 innings, allowing just two hits with three Ks. Tufts tossed four complete frames to begin the game, walking four and striking out five.