PENSACOLA, Fla. -
Matt Jacobs launched his fourth home run of the 2016 season, his second extra-innings long ball, in the top of the 11th at West Florida's Jim Spooner Field on Wednesday, sending the Eagles (17-8) to a 3-2 win over the Argonauts (14-10), completing the two-game road sweep of UWF. The win marked the Blue and Gold's fourth over an NCAA II ranked squad in the Eagles' inaugural campaign as an NCAA member.
The Eagles and Argos combined to leave 20 runners on base in the game as both pitching staffs did a tremendous job throughout the contest of working around 25 combined hits.
Troy Naab started the stranding trend in the bottom of the first after a leadoff double from Nic Strasser. Strasser moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, but two straight ground outs induced by Naab left Strasser there as the Eagles went back to the dugout.
Jonathan Camp clobbered his team-leading fifth home run of the season out to left to start the second inning, and
Liam Goodall followed with a double to right, breaking a tie with Bryan Carter to claim sole possession of the Embry-Riddle program record for career at-bats with 755.
Leading 1-0, Naab delivered a three-up, three-down inning in the bottom of the second, and both he and UWF starter Anthony Mazzurco (ERAU's
A.J. Mazzurco's younger brother) tossed scoreless third frames.
The visitors pushed across a second run in the fourth thanks to three consecutive two-out singles, starting with Jacobs, and followed by
Joey Swinarski and
Ryan Maxon, the last of which plated Jacobs for a 2-0 Eagle lead.
UWF tied things up in the fifth with its own two-out rally, but Naab kept the game tied by getting a ground out with a runner in scoring position to send the game to the sixth.
The Argonauts threatened in the last of the sixth when they put runners on first and second with one out, but Naab got a line out double play as the contest went to the seventh, still knotted at 2-2.
Dylan Demarest relieved Naab with two outs in the seventh, working the next 2.0 innings without allowing a run, including getting a double play to end the eighth.
Corey Tufts came in for Demarest in the bottom of the ninth with runners at first and second with two outs, inducing a ground ball that resulted in an out at second to send the game to extras.
Tufts got out of a jam of his own making in the 10th after a single, balk and wild pitch put the potential winning run just 90 feet away with two outs, but a pop up to shallow right-center was put away by
Logan Malphurs for the final out of the frame.
Jacobs' heroics came with one out in the top of the 11th as he lifted a moon shot over the left field wall for a 3-2 lead, and Tufts did the rest, working around a one-out single in the home-half to secure the win.
Tufts (5-1) got the win in 2.1 innings of relief after Naab went 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits and Demarest worked 2.0 innings, scattering four hits.
The Eagles were out-hit by the Argonauts, 14-11, but made their hits count as Camp, Goodall, Jacobs and Swinarski all recorded two hits on the day.
ERAU returns to Daytona Beach to host another perennial NCAA II power in Florida Southern this weekend. The Eagles and Mocs will meet for a single game on Friday night at 6 p.m. at Sliwa Stadium, followed by a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.
