DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Jake Cavender fielded a chopper off the bat of Malduino Gonzalez, firing over to first base in time to retire the Rio Grande catcher and sending the 16th-ranked Embry-Riddle Eagles to their 13th appearance at the Avista-NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho as the Eagles held off the RedStorm, 2-1 in the 2015 NAIA National Championship Opening Round - Daytona Beach Bracket championship game. ERAU (39-17) swept through the five-team field, winning twice against the fifth-seeded RedStorm (35-22) en route to the seventh trip in eight seasons for Head Coach Randy Stegall and his staff. The seven World Series appearances are the most for any ERAU Head Coach, surpassing Greg Guilliams' six trips. The Eagles will await the seedings and 10-team bracket released tomorrow evening by the NAIA, before travelling to Lewiston for the 59th NAIA World Series, May 22-29. at Lewis Clark State's Harris Field.

The Eagles scored a run in each of the first two innings, but were held scoreless the rest of the way as Trent Downs worked the final 5.1 innings for URG, surrendering just four hits and no runs after taking over for Ryan Christophel in the third inning. Tyler Cyr was masterful for the Eagles, nearly collecting a complete game before Zac Grotz was called upon to get the final out of the night after a runner had reached first with two outs in the ninth inning.

Cyr got out of the first thanks to a 6-4-3 double play and another groundout before the Eagles took an early 1-0 lead in the home-half of the frame. Cavender drew a one-out walk before moving to second on a Liam Goodall single. A fielding error by Christophel allowed Enderson Velasquez to reach and load the bases with one out before Joshua Garcia flew out to right, scoring Cavender on a sac fly.

Cyr got his second double play in the second inning and and the Eagles improved their lead with a single run in the second when Christophel threw a wild pitch, allowing Tobias Moreno to scamper home from third and a 2-0 ERAU advantage.

Rio Grande got its lone run in the top of the third on a wild pitch by Cyr as Carlos Flores scored from third after reaching on a fielder's choice, stealing second and moving to third on a groundout.

Embry-Riddle loaded the bases in the last of the third against Christophel and Downs came in with two outs, getting Ryan Maxon to lift a ball to left center that looked like it might get down for extra bases, but Flores came out of center to rob Maxon of two RBIs, and keep the deficit at 2-1.

Cyr worked out of a first and third jam in the fifth with a line out to right field, and after surrendering back-to-back base hits with two outs in the sixth, he struck out Cody Blackburn to end the threat and keep his team in front.

ERAU couldn't solve Downs, but Cyr was up to the challenge on the mound, facing the minimum in the seventh and working around a single in the eighth to send the game to the ninth with the Eagles clinging to a one-run cushion.

Cyr got the first out via a ground ball to Garcia at second before a pinch hitter grounded out th third for out number two. After a four-pitch walk to Chris Ford, Stegall brought Grotz into the game for his ninth save opportunity and the senior converted, getting Gonzalez to ground out to short before the Eagles dogpiled on the field.

ERAU managed just five hits, two from Garcia, but Cyr's dominance was apparent as he went 8.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits with eight strikeouts to improve to 7-4 on the year.