LEWISTON, Idaho - A 90-minute lightning delay and the third-seeded Tabor (Kan.) Bluejays weren't enough to stop Stetson Nelson and the sixth-seeded Embry-Riddle Eagles on Friday evening at the 2015 Avista-NAIA World Series as the Blue and Gold blew past Tabor, 9-1 behind a strong outing from Nelson and an 11-hit offensive outburst. The Eagles (40-17) moved to 7-6 in World Series openers, securing the 14th consecutive 40-win season while Tabor (53-11) suffered their second-most loss of the season, mustering a season-low three hits against the Eagles.

Embry-Riddle will take two days off before taking on the winner of Faulkner (Ala.) and Vangaurd (Calif.) on Monday, May 25 at 3 p.m. (PT) at Lewis-Clark State's Harris Field.

Nelson (10-4) set a career-high with his 10th win of the year, striking out four while taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning against the Bluejays. Zac Grotz pitched the final 1.2 innings for Embry-Riddle, fanning three and not allowing a hit to close out the contest. Nelson also broke Austin Quinn's single-season record with 131.1 innings pitched in 2015.

Tobias Moreno led off the game with a single against TC ace Dustin Hurlbutt, stealing second before being thrown out at third trying to advance on a dirt ball. Hurlbutt struck out the other two Eagles to come to the plate in the frame before Nelson took over in the bottom of the inning.

A fielding error allowed the Tabor leadoff man to reach, but a failed sac bunt followed by two strikeouts from Nelson sent the game to the second inning.

Before the Eagles could come to the plate in the second, a lightning delay of 90 minutes came to Harris Field, a delay that seemed to help the squad from Daytona Beach.

Enderson Velasquez collected the first of six Eagle doubles to start the second, moving to third on a Matt Jacobs single to right. A wild pitch pushed Jacobs to second, but Hurlbutt struck out two Eagles, bringing up Hunter Bruehl with two away. The senior first baseman took a 1-1 pitch from Hurlbutt to the left field corner, scoring both ERAU runners for a 2-0 Eagle lead.

Nelson went back to work in the second, throwing up a shutdown inning by facing the minimum number of Tabor batters. The Eagle lefty had to work around two Bluejays runners in the third, but got a harmless groundout to end the inning as ERAU still led, 2-0.

Joshua Garcia brought in the third Blue and Gold run of the day with a double to left center in the visitor fourth, chasing in Velasquez after he had walked and moved to second on a wild pitch to start the frame.

The third ERAU error of the contest put a runner at second in the last of the fourth, but again Nelson was up to the task, inducing a harmless fly ball and ground out to send the game to the fifth.

Ryan Maxon walked before Moreno moved his courtesy runner Kyle Zirbes into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Zirbes took third on a wild pitch and then scored when Jake Cavender singled to right center for a 4-0 Embry-Riddle cushion.

Cavender made a nice defensive play in the home fifth, barehanding a tipped ground ball off Nelson's glove and firing to first to get an out, as the Bluejays continued to look for their first hit off Nelson.

Embry-Riddle put the game out of reach in the sixth, starting with a Velasquez single and Garcia double that made it 5-0, ending the day for Hurlbutt as David Renteria came in in relief. Jacobs greeted the new Tabor pitcher with a double to left, and after Buchanan grounded out, Bruehl crushed a two-run homer to right center, making it 8-0 in favor of the Eagles.

Alex Couch broke up Nelson's no-hitter with a one-out single in the bottom of the sixth, but Nelson was unfazed and moved the game to the seventh by getting a ground ball from Jerrik Sigg to end the frame.

The Eagles went quietly in the seventh before Tabor finally got on the scoreboard in its' half of the inning, but Nelson minimized the damage to just one run as ERAU enjoyed an 8-1 advantage.

A fieding error by the Tabor shortstop allowed the ninth and final ERAU run to score in the eighth, and after a one-out single against Nelson in the home-half of the inning, Randy Stegall turned to Grotz to close things out, and the senior did just that, striking out three Bluejays in the process.

Bruehl finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs, while Jacobs went 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Velasquez collected two hits and scored three runs and Garcia drove in two on a pair of doubles.

Visit www.erauathletics.com/worldseries for all the coverage of the Eagles' World Series trip.