MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - Embry-Riddle scored 31 runs and registered 31 hits in a Saturday twin bill sweep of Florida Memorial, 16-1 and 15-3. The Eagles (30-13, 17-6) completed the series sweep of the Lions (7-39, 2-21), stretching their winning streak to 13 over FMU and pushing the all-time series record to 66-9 in favor of the Blue and Gold.
ERAU stays on the road with a Tuesday date against Brewton-Parker (Ga.) in Mount Vernon, Ga. The doubleheader is set to begin at 2 p.m. on April 14.
Game 1 • ERAU 16, FMU 1Stetson Nelson allowed just one run on five hits in a complete game, seven-inning win for the Eagles, and he got plenty of run support as the visitors struck for 16 runs on 14 hits to cruise in the day's opener.
A one-out triple from
Jake Cavender was followed by an RBI groundout off the bat of
Liam Goodall as the Eagles took an early 1-0 lead in the first, and the Eagles' left-hander went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the frame to get his team back into the dugout.
Yoanque Martinez didn't last past the second inning as ERAU plated seven runs to chase him from the game.
Jordan Brown started the scoring with a double to left center, scoring both
Kyle Buchanan and
Matt Jacobs. Brown later scored on a fielder's choice from
Tobias Moreno, but an error on the play allowed all runners to be safe. Cavender singled in the fifth ERAU run before Goodall crushed a ball to left that cleared the fence for his second homer of the season, making it 8-0 in favor of the Eagles.
Nelson kept the Lions at bay through the second and third before his team gave him two more runs in the fourth thanks to an RBI single from Brown and a sacrifice fly from
Ryan Maxon.
Brown got his fourth RBI of the game by drawing a bases-loaded walk in the fifth and once again Nelson cruised in the bottom of the inning, setting the Lions down in order.
Embry-Riddle put up another crooked number in the sixth thanks to three hits, four walks and a hit by pitch.
Enderson Velasquez loaded the bases with a single to center and
Joshua Garcia brought in a run on a sac fly. Buchanan was hit by a pitch with the bases juiced before Brown cleared the bags with a three-run double to left, pushing his RBI total to seven for the contest, one shy of the program record.
Nelson rarely faced any trouble until the bottom of the seventh when Blake Martinez tripled with one out and an infield single brought in the first FMU run of the day, but Nelson wasn't fazed and got out of the frame without any further damage, ending the contest with a strikeout.
Nelson improved to 5-3 on the year in his second complete game of the season. He allowed just one run on five hits with two strikeouts.
Brown was 4-for-4 with seven RBIs while Goodall collected four RBIs and Cavender, Velasquez, Garcia and Maxon each had two hits.
Game 2 • ERAU 15, FMU 3The Eagles' bats stayed hot in the series finale as eight of ERAU's 17 hits went for extra-bases in a 15-3 win in eight innings.
Goodall singled and stole second with two outs in the first before Velasquez brought him in with a base knock back up the middle.
Corey Tufts breezed throught the bottom of the first as no ball left the infield and Moreno recorded the first home run of his ERAU career in the second, taking a pitch to right center, scoring
Kyle Buchanan in the process.
Neither team scored in the third (the only inning ERAU failed to register a run), but the visitors tacked on two more runs in the fourth, the first on a Cavender sacrifice fly that scored Brown and the second on a Velasquez single that plated
Kyle Zirbes, Maxon's courtesy runner.
FMU got two runs back in the home fourth, but Moreno doubled in Zirbes in the fifth to push the Eagle lead to 6-2.
Tufts faced the minimum in the bottom of the fifth and Goodall began the sixth with a triple to left, scoring on a Garcia sacrifice fly. A Lion run in the bottom of the inning trimmed the lead to 7-3, but again the Eagles answered, this time with five runs in the seventh to effectively put the game out of reach.
Cavender walked with the bases loaded for the eighth run of the game and Goodall attacked the first pitch he saw for a triple down the right field line, his second three-bagger of the game, as the lead grew to 11-3. Velasquez's single to right scored Goodall before FMU finally retired the side.
Clayton Wagner worked a scoreless seventh and Embry-Riddle got to 15 runs in the eighth thanks to a Cavender double and a Goodall double that brought in three total runs.
Zac Grotz relieved Wagner to start the eighth and struck out the side to secure the run-rule victory.
Tufts (7-3) got the win in six innings, surrendering three runs (two earned) on three hits with 10 strikeouts.
Goodall went 4-for-6 with five RBIs while Velasquez also had four hits with three RBIs. Moreno drove in three runs with three hits and two walks and Buchanan finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Cavender had three RBIs for the Eagles as well.