MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle baseball team narrowly avoided the first Sun Conference sweep in the Randy Stegall era over the weekend by winning the series finale thanks to a ninth-inning rally on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles (31-16, 20-4) dropped the day's opener, 8-0 to St. Thomas as Emilio Ogando held ERAU to a season-low two hits while shutting out the Blue and Gold to give St. Thomas (29-16, 17-7) the series win. The Eagles were able to claim the finale 6-5 after watching their 5-2 lead dissapear late before a Kyle Chastain double in the ninth scored Kevin Lindheim in the top of the ninth before David Lidyard held the Bobcats in the last of the frame for the win.

The Eagles secured at least a share of the 2014 Sun Conference regular season championship, the 15th in program history, and need just one win next weekend against Webber International to win the title outright.

Embry-Riddle travels to NCAA II No. 1 and defending national champion Tampa on Tuesday, April 15 for a 5 p.m. game against the Spartans.

Game 1 - Box Score

St. Thomas scored runs in the first four innings, including a four-run third to cruise to an 8-0 win over the Eagles and Stetson Nelson in Saturday's opener. Ogando moved to 7-1 on the season by striking out eight Eagles and allowing just two hits, both to Chastain, as ERAU suffered its fourth shutout of the year.

Nelson lasted just 2.1 innings as STU struck for six runs (four earned) in the first three frames before David Lidyard tossed an inning of relief, allowing one unearned run. The Eagle defense committed three total errors in the game, the most since a 5-4 loss to Northwestern Ohio on March 24.

Dylan Demarest was a bright spot for the Eagles in the contest as the sophomore threw the final 4.2 innings, striking out five Bobcats, surrendering two hits and one run.

Game 2 - Box Score

Embry-Riddle scored an early run in the second game, going up 4-0 in the sixth and 5-2 in the seventh before STU knotted the game at 5-5 in the last of the seventh. Chastain's double in the ninth scored Lindheim after Lindheim singled up the middle and stole second to setup his fellow senior's heroics.

Corey Tufts started the game by pitching five scoreless frames before being chased in the sixth. Lidyard got the win to move to 7-1 overall by throwing the final 3.1 innings.

Hunter Bruehl snapped an 18-inning scoreless streak with a single up the middle in the second, plating Jake Cavender from second after he doubled with an out against Alex Perez as ERAU went up 1-0.

Tufts stranded four Bobcats over the next three innings and the Eagles took a 3-0 advantage in the fifth after Lindheim singled and Chastain recorded a sacrifice fly to score Kyle Buchanan and Liam Goodall respectively.

Connor Williams, pinch running for Bruehl, scored the fourth run of the game in the sixth when he stole third and scored on a throwing error by STU's catcher.

St. Thomas cut the lead to 4-2 after three hits in the bottom of the sixth before Lidyard got the final out of the inning with a groundout.

The Eagles loaded the bases with one out in the seventh and Jordan Johnson was able to score on a wild pitch, pushing the ERAU lead to 5-2.

Three STU hits in the home half of the seventh scored three runs, including a double to center that plated the tying run, but the runner was tagged out trying to get back to second to end the inning.

Lidyard worked around a leadoff single in the eighth, moving the game to the ninth where the Eagle offense gave the visitors a 6-5 lead.

A one-out single by Dayron Gomez in the bottom of the ninth setup a dramatic finish as Lidyard got a pop up to short and a ground ball to short as Lorenzo Boden handled both hit balls to end the contest in favor of the Eagles.

Chastan had four hits on the day with two RBIs while Lindheim finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored in the final game