DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Embry-Riddle forced the if-necessary game in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round - Daytona Beach Bracket with a 10-2 blowout win over top-seeded Southern Poly (Ga.). The Eagles (40-20) got a gutsy performance from senior Daniel Poncedeleon on the mound and a record-tying three home runs from Darryl Knight to snap the Hornets (44-17) seven-game winning streak and setup a winner-take-all matchup on Thursday morning at 10 a.m. Poncedeleon pitched a complete game, two-hitter, allowing just two unearned runs with two walks and nine strikeouts against SPSU and Knight launched three long balls to tie former ERAU catcher Austin Goolsby's three-homer game (March 27, 2010) and break the single-season home run record with 15 round trippers, previously held by Kyle Albright (14) during the 2008 season.

Darius Reese collected the first of just two base hits off of Poncedeleon to begin the first inning, but the right-hander struck out two of the next three batters and induced a pop up to send the game to the bottom of the first frame.

Garrett Forrest was the first of six Hornet pitchers in the contest and after he issued a one-out walk to Jordan Johnson, he served up the first of Knight's three homers on the first pitch of the Eagle catcher's at-bat for a 2-0 Blue and Gold lead.

Forrest and Poncedeleon matched zeroes in the second, but in the bottom of the third, Forrest allowed a single to Kevin Lindheim with Kyle Buchanan at second for a 3-0 Eagle advantage.

Neither team scored in the fourth, and although the Hornets put a runner at third in the fifth, Poncedeleon left him there with a strikeout to end the inning. His battery partner worked a full count in the bottom of the frame before hammering his second home run of the game as Embry-Riddle enjoyed a four-run cushion.

Two errors in the top of the sixth allowed the first SPSU run to cross the plate, but Poncedeleon stayed in control, incuding a couple of fly balls to end the inning before his offense gave him a crooked number in the home half of the sixth.

J Rhet Montana homered for the first time in 2014 to begin the sixth for the Blue and Gold, and after a Matt Jacobs single, Buchanan tripled to left center before scoring on a Liam Goodall sacrifice fly for a 7-1 score. Two batters later, with Johnson on base after a hit by pitch, Knight tied the single-game record and broke the single-season record with his third homer of the night for a 9-1 ERAU advantage.

Poncedeleon retired the six Hornets he faced in the seventh and eighth and after an insurance run in the last of the eighth, Poncedeleon worked around an error and an unearned run in the ninth for his third complete game of the season.

Poncedeleon (9-2) lowered his season ERA to 1.60 in his 14th start, tossing nine innings of two-hit baseball for the Eagles. Knight drove in five runs on his three homers, walking twice while Lindheim, Goodall, Johnson, Montana and Buchanan all recorded an RBI.

Game time for Thursday's final contest is slated for 10 a.m. due to weather concerns.