MONTGOMERY, Ala. -
Stetson Nelson was on the better end of a pitching duel on Saturday afternoon as his 11th-ranked Embry-Riddle Eagles downed Auburn Montgomery, 4-1 to claim the weekend series, two games to one. The Eagles (9-3) were locked in a 1-1 tie with the Warhawks (9-6) until the eighth inning when the visitors plated two runs before adding an insurance run in the ninth to come away with the 4-1 win.
The Blue and Gold will take on No. 5 Faulkner on Sunday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. (central) at Harrison Field in Montgomery.
For his third straight start to start the 2015 season, Nelson delivered a solid outing, scattering eight hits and allowing just one unearned run while fanning six Warhawk batters.
Cole Goodwin was equally as good as Nelson through seven, allowing just seven hits and on run while striking out eight Eagle batters. But the eighth inning was a different story as the visitors finally broke through, starting with a single from
Tobias Moreno, one of his four hits on the day, followed by a sacrifice bunt from
Jake Cavender and a
Joshua Garcia base hit that scored Moreno was second, giving Embry-Riddle a 2-1 lead.
The Eagles got another run in the inning thanks to an infield error by AUM as Garcia raced around to touch home for a 3-1 cushion. Embry-Riddle tacked on an insurance run in the ninth when Moreno doubled over the head of the left fielder, chasing in
Kyle Buchanan after Buchanan walked and moved to third on a failed pickoff attempt by AUM reliever Kevin Franklin.
The scoring started back in the second when Buchanan collected an RBI single to score
Liam Goodall from third. Goodall singled up the middle with one out, stealing second and then moving to third on a
Matt Jacobs infield single.
Auburn Montgomery didn't wait long to knot things up, scoring the tying run in the bottom of the second on a Tyler Garner sacrifice bunt that scored Matt Miller after a pair of singles put runners on the corners for AUM.
The next five innings were all about the two pitchers as Nelson and Goodwin kept the game deadlocked at 1-1. Nelson stranded a pair in the fourth while Goodwin did the same in the sixth. Nelson stranded the potential go-ahead run at third in the last of the sixth, striking out Garner to end the frame.
After the Eagles went ahead in the top of the eighth,
Clayton Wagner entered for Nelson, working around a one-out walk to send the game to the ninth.
A pair of singles in the ninth put two Warhawks on against Wagner and
Zac Grotz was called upon to make his third appearance in as many games, throwing just one pitch to get a ground ball from Michael Goodson that ended the game in ERAU's favor.
Nelson (2-1) tossed seven innings, allowing one unearned run on eight hits with six Ks. Grotz earned his fourth save of the season in 1/3 of an inning of work.
Moreno finished 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored while Garcia collected three hits with an RBI and a run. Jacobs also registered multiple hits with two.
