FORT MYERS, Fla. - Kevin Lindheim, Jake Cavender and Darryl Knight all left the yard while Hunter Bruehl added a pair of RBIs as the Eagles out-slugged Warner, 8-5 in the 2014 Sun Conference Baseball Tournament opening game on Friday at City of Palms Park. Stetson Nelson pitchd well enough for the Eagles (35-17) to snap a two-game losing streak in their tournament opener as David Lidyard and Corey Tufts finished the Royals (24-28-2) off to advance to the 3 p.m. game on Saturday where they will face the loser of St. Thomas and Thomas. The Royals drop to the loser's bracket and will face the loser of Southeastern and Webber International at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

After a Jordan Johnson single in the top of the firth, Knight grounded into a routine double play chance for the Royals, but a problem with the transfer allowed Knight to reach first safely to keep the inning alive. Lindheim made the Royals pay with a two-out two-run no-doubt homer to left to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.

Nelson cruised through the first two innings against Warner, allowing just one hit, but the Royals got to the lefty in the third, scoring three runs on four hits to take a 3-2 lead. Warner loaded the bases with one out before Sergio Perez singled in a run, but Nelson got a big strikeout of Anthony Dovale for the second out and nearly got out of the frame without any further damage. However, Dylan Gross singled to left to score two runs, but Perez was out at third to end the threat.

Aaron Kehres served up his second homer of the day when Cavender launched his first of the year to bring ERAU level at 3-3 in the fourth.

Gross recorded his third RBI in the fifth on a groundout to second, scoring Perez after he reached on an error, giving the Royals a 4-3 advantage.

Kehres struggled in the sixth as ERAU took a 6-4 lead thanks to a sacrifice fly from Kyle Chastain and a two-run single from Bruehl , and the Eagles never trailed in the contest again.

Johnny Groubert brought the Royals to within one run with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the sixth, and with a runner at second Lidyard was called on to get out of the inning and the first team All-Conference reliever did just that, getting Justin Burgess to groundout to end the frame.

Kehres was relieved by Blaine Rhea to start the seventh and Liam Goodall started the frame off with a double off the wall in left, scoring a few batters later when Knight collected a sacrifice fly to center for a 7-5 Eagle lead.

Lidyard worked around a double in the Warner seventh to keep the Eagles in front by two and the Royals ran into an out in the eighth when Chris Mejia, who finised the game 4-for-4, was out on a play when the ball hit him, and despite four hits in the frame, Lidyard did not give up a run.

Knight went deep for the 10th time in 2014 with one out in the ninth for a big insurance run for the Blue and Gold, taking a Jake Pike pitch over the left field wall to increase the ERAU advantage to 8-5.

Tufts entered in the ninth and succesfully converted his first save opportunity of the season, retiring three straight Royals as ERAU won 8-5.

Nelson (9-3) got the win, despite giving up 10 hits, allowing four earned runs with four Ks. Lidyard tossed 2.1 innings before Tufts threw a perfect ninth for his first save of the year.

All but one Eagle collected a base hit, including two hit performances from Lindheim, Cavender, Chastain and Buchanan. Knight, Lindheim and Bruehl each had two RBIs.