DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -
Joey Swinarski delivered the go-ahead two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the seventh and pitched the final 2.2 innings on the mound as Embry-Riddle defeated NAIA power Cumberland, 8-6 on Monday night at Sliwa Stadium. The Eagles (13-6) improved to 10-2 all-time against the Phoenix in Daytona Beach, while CU (13-9) dropped its third straight in 2016.
Troy Naab got the start for the Blue and Gold on the hill, getting two soft ground outs to begin the contest before Josh Croft homered to right to give Cumberland, the alma mater of ERAU Head Coach
Randy Stegall and assistant coaches
Chuck Stegall and
Robert Clayton, a 1-0 lead.
The Eagles were held scoreless by CU's Stephen Fischer for the first five innings, despite putting runners in scoring position in the first, second, third and fourth frames.
The Phoenix added a second run in the top of the fifth thanks to a sacrifice fly that brought in Mitch Langer from third after he had singled, stole second and moved to third on a base hit.
The home-half of the sixth saw the Blue and Gold tie things up with a paif of runs, the first came when
Jonathan Camp came home on a
Liam Goodall RBI single, and the tying run crossed the plate in the form of Goodall on an
Enderson Velasquez single.
The tie was short lived however, as the visitors quickly posted three runs in the top of the seventh after Naab had been relieved by fellow freshman
Kyle Miller to start the inning. Miller got a quick first out before Cumberland collected back-to-back hits to put runners on first and second. Stegall went to his DH Swinarski and the sophomore right-hander struggled early on, allowing two singled that gave CU a 4-2 lead before getting a strikeout of Croft for the second out. A third fifth hit in the inning pushed the Phoenix lead to 5-2 before Swinarski induced a fly ball to end the frame.
Embry-Riddle wasted no time getting right back into it as Tobias Moreni led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, moving to third on
Kyle Zirbes' double to left. A
Joshua Garcia single through the right side of the infield cut the deficit to 5-4, and after a Goodall single moved Garcia to second, a new CU reliever was brought in the game, throwing a wild pitch to push both runners up a base. Velasquez hit a 2-0 pitch to short and the Phoenix were able to cut Garcia down at the plate to preserve ther lead, but a fielding error by the Cumberland third baseman allowed the tying run to score on a
Matt Jacobs' batted ball.
Velasquez and Jacobs stood at second and first for Swinarski, and following a failed pickoff attempt that moved both runners up 90 feet, Swinarski took a 1-2 pitch into left field for two runs, giving the hosts a 7-5 advantage.
Swinarski returned to the mound in the eighth, working around a two-out single to get the Eagles back in the dugout and Moreno again started off an inning with a base hit, doubling to left before stealing third and scoring an insurance run on a sacrifice fly by Zirbes.
Trailing 8-5, the Phoenix got a lone run in the ninth, but a lazy fly ball to center off the bat of Ryan Dickison ended the contest as ERAU took the 8-6 final.
Swinarski went 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of RBIs, while Garcia also collected two RBIs. Moreno was 2-for-5 with two runs scored, and both Goodall and Jacobs joined Swinarski with two hits.
Swinarski improved to 2-2 on the year in 2.2 innings of relief, striking out three batters while allowing two runs. Naab gave the Eagles a quality start, tossing six innings, surrendering just two runs with five Ks.
ERAU is back in action tomorrow, Tuesday, March 8 for a 4 p.m. game against Assumption (Mass.) at Sliwa Stadium.
