DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle baseball team earned its biggest wins as a NCAA II program on Thursday, sweeping a doubleheader from perennial power and No. 8 Minnesota State, 8-5 (7 innings) and 6-5 (10 innings) at Sliwa Stadium. The Eagles (12-5) came back from a 2-0 deficit in the opener before holding on for the three-run win before staging a dramatic seventh-inning rally against MSU (3-2) in the nightcap to force extras before Matt Jacobs ended the game with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th.

Game 1 - ERAU 8, MSU 5 (7)
The day's first game started out as a true pitchers' duel as the Eagles' Corey Tufts and the Mavericks' Dalton Roach matched each other pitch for pitch through the first two innings as the game moved to the third without a score.

Kevin Toth put the Mavericks on the board with a two-out solo homer to left in the top of the third for a 1-0 MSU lead. Tufts kept the visitors at just one run in the fourth, and the Eagles threatened Roach in the last of the inning after Jonathan Camp walked with one out before Enderson Velasquez doubled to right field, pushing Camp around the bases, and the Eagle right fielder attempted to tie the game by racing towards home, but a great relay throw from the second baseman Toth cut down Camp at the plate, keeping MSU in front by a run.

Toth was once again the center of a big play in the fifth when he reached on a three-base error by the Eagles, scoring on a Tufts' wild pitch to make it 2-0 in favor of the Mavericks.

The bottom of the fifth proved to be the turning point in the game, starting with a Joey Swinarski double to lead off the inning, and on a 1-0 pitch to Jacobs in the next at-bat, Roach saw his 2-0 lead disappear as the ERAU senior launched his second homer of the season over the left field fence, knotting the game at 2-2. ERAU loaded the bases later on in the inning with one out, but Roach got out of the jam to send the game to the sixth square at 2-2.

Tufts stranded two Mavericks in scoring position in the top of the sixth, striking out Chase Lonetti before his team put him in line for the win with a six-run home-half of the frame.

Joshua Garcia doubled to start the Eagle sixth, moving to third on a Swinarski sacrifice bunt, but Roach, who fielded the bunt, looked at third to try for the out there before realizing he had no play, and by the time he turned to first, Swinarski was safely on the bag for the Blue and Gold. A walk issued to Jacobs loaded the bases for Dalton Hughes, and with the infield in, Hughes poked a ball through the right side of the infield for two RBIs and a 4-2 Eagle lead. Josh Matheson relieved Roach, but would do no better, giving up a two-RBI single to Zirbes and a RBI gorundout to Velasquez as Embry-Riddle went up 7-2. Liam Goodall would account for the final Eagle run of the frame, scoring from third on a passed ball.

Kyle Miller entered for Tufts to begin the seventh, and the Mavericks made things a little interesting, scoring three runs on three hits, but never brought the potential tying run to the plate and Miller ended the game with a strikeout as the Eagles secured their first win over a ranked NCAA II team since a 7-6 win over then-No. 8 Tampa on April 12, 2011.

Tufts (4-1) got the win in six innings of work, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with three walks and five Ks, while Miller tossed the final inning for Embry-Riddle.

Zirbes finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored, while Jacobs was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs and Hughes recorded two RBIs and a run for the Blue and Gold.

Game 2 - ERAU 6, MSU 5 (10)
The second game of Thursday's doubleheader proved to be one of the most exciting games in recent Embry-Riddle baseball history as the Eagles found themselves trailing 5-1 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, but ERAU looked to the bat of Jonathan Camp, as the right fielder recorded three RBIs, including the game-tying two-RBI double with two outs in the last of the seventh to send the game to extras before Jacobs ended things via the walk-off long ball in the 10th.

Kenny Burkhead took the mound for ERAU to start things off, but struggled in the early going as Minnesota State scored two runs on three hits and an Eagle error to take a 2-0 lead before the Eagles got to bat for the first time.

ERAU was able to cut the lead in half when Camp grounded out to second, scoring Tobias Moreno after the leadoff hitter was hit by a pitch, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. However, Brody Rodning kept his team in front by getting Velasquez to pop up with Zirbes at third to end the inning, 2-1 in favor of MSU.

Burkhead and Rodning battled back-and-forth through the next three innings, neither starter giving up another run until a very controversial call in the fifth. The Mavericks had two runners on with two outs, and cleanup hitter Dylan Dresei lifted a Burkhead pitch down the right field line where Camp nearly made a spectacular catch in what appeared to be foul territory, but after Camp was unable to make the catch, the umpires ruled the ball landed fair, and both MSU runners, who had been moving on contact, scored for a 4-1 Maverick advantage.

Rodning struck out the side in the last of the fifth for a shut down inning, and the visitors tacked on a run in the sixth when Lonetti singled to left, chasing in the fifth run of the day for MSU.

Camp started his terrorizing of the MSU pitching staff in the bottom of the sixth, leading off the inning with a no-doubter over the left field fence to trim the deficit to 5-2, but the Eagles couldn't score any more in the inning as Rodning sent the game to the seventh with a strikeout of Swinarski.

Dylan Demarest came in for Burkhead to start the seventh, working around a leadoff single and subsequent hit by pitch by getting a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning and setup the dramatics in the home-half of the frame.

Jacobs singled to right to begin the Eagle seventh, but Rodning quickly got two fly outs before Zirbes doubled to right to put ERAU runners on second and third. Goodall kept the Eagles' hopes alive with an RBI single through the left side of the infield to make it 5-3. MSU went to its closer, Dakota Belter, to face Camp, and after getting behind 0-2, Camp worked the count to 2-2 before barrelling up a Belter pitch to deep center, scoring both Zirbes and Goodall to tie the game at 5-5.

Demarest worked a scoreless eighth and the home team was on the verge of walking off in the bottom of the inning when Garcia walked and moved to third with one out on heads-up play when Swinarski bunted him to second and no Maverick covered third. However, Belter struck out Hughes and Moreno lined out to second to end the threat for the Eagles.

Demarest gave up a leadoff single to Toth before a sacrifice bunt put him in scoring position with one away. Andrew Schorr was called upon to face the lefty Taylor Branstad, but Schorr hit him with a pitch and Swinarski, the Eagles' DH, took the mound to try to keep the game tied. Swinarski got a shallow fly out from Dresel before a weak ground ball to Garcia at second ended the top of the ninth with the contest still tied at 5-5.

Neither the Eagles nor Mavericks could find the go-ahead run in the bottom of the ninth or top of the 10th, and MSU reliever Trevor Patterson got two quick outs in the home 10th before Jacobs stepped to the plate. After the senior fouled off the first pitch, he watched two balls go by before crushing his third home run of the year down the left field line, clearing the fence for the Eagles' first walk-off home run since Kevin Lindheim's against Cumberland on March 11, 2014.

Swinarski (1-2) was the winner for the Eagles, throwing 1.2 innings without allowing a hit. Jacobs finished 4-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored, while Camp was 3-for-5 with four RBIs and a run. Zirbes collected two hits to improve his season average to a team-best .411.

The Eagles and Mavericks wrap up their three-game series with a single game on Friday, March 4 at 3 p.m.