DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle Eagles claimed a series win over visiting Eckerd on Sunday, splitting the day's doubleheader with a 13-1 win in the opener before the Tritons won the finale, 10-3. However, the day truly belonged to senior
Liam Goodall as the Nanaimo, British Columbia native broke the program record for career hits with an RBI double in the seventh inning of Saturday's second contest, giving him 276 base knocks in his four-year Eagle career. The previous record of 275 career hits, which Goodall shared with Jared Mathis for two innings, had stood since 1997.
ERAU improved to 24-14 on the year while the Tritons moved to 10-17. The Eagles host Armstrong State on Tuesday, April 12 for a 6 p.m. game at Sliwa Stadium.
Game 1 - ERAU 13, EC 1
The Eagles were held without a baserunner for the first three innings in Saturday's opener, but after (who else) Goodall singled to left in the fourth, the hosts went on to score 13 runs over their final four innings at the plate, cruising to a 13-1 win as
Kenny Burkhead tossed just the second complete game of the year for the Blue and Gold, allowing one run on five hits to improve to 5-2 in 2016.
Alex Moore was perfect through three against the home team, while Burkhead managed to match his scoreless innings with three of his own, getting a crucial 5-4-3 double play to end the third inning with the bases loaded.
Embry-Riddle finally broke through in the fifth, starting with a
Jonathan Camp single up the middle before he moved to second on a
Joshua Garcia base hit and then to third on a wild pitch, and when the throw came from the catcher to third it went into left to allow Camp to score the game's first run.
Matt Jacobs brought in Garcia from third with a sacrifice fly to center, giving the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
Burkhead picked off a runner at second to end the top of the sixth, and his offense doubled the lead to 4-0 on back-to-back-to-back doubles from
Tobias Moreno, Goodall and
Enderson Velasquez.
Eckerd got its lone run of the opener in the seventh when Mitchell Calandra singled in Nick Conti after a walk and throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt moved him to second, but Burkhead settled in and kept ERAU in front by three by getting three weak fly balls to end the inning.
The Eagles busted the game open in their half of the seventh, chasing Moore from the game after
Kyle Zirbes walked, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch.
Joey Swinarski singled to center off of Zach Hoppe and Moreno brought in Swinarski with a single through the left side before Goodall collected his second RBI of the contest with a single to right, plating Moreno for a 7-1 ERAU cushion.
Burkhead faced the minimum in the eighth and the hosts effectively ended the game with a six-run eighth, thanks in large part to a pair of Triton errors as Garcia and Goodall both doubled and Swinarski singled in the inning for a 13-1 score.
Burkhead came out for the ninth and worked around a hit by pitch and walk to nail down the win on 108 total pitches.
Goodall collected four hits, his sixth career game with four or more hits, driving in four runs and scoring once, while Moreno, Garcia and Swinarski each had a pair of hits, and Velasquez and Swinarski both recorded two RBIs.
Game 2 - EC 10, ERAU 3
The Tritons salvaged the getaway game, scoring in the first inning and adding on late for a 10-3 final.
Eckerd scored in the opening inning when Carter Cashman singled to center with two men on and two outs, but
Dylan Demarest, the Eagle starter, was able to keep the damage at just one run.
The Eagles wasted a walk and double in the first, and then had runners at second and third with no outs in the second, but failed to score and the Tritons took advantage, scoring two runs in the third, both on a Conti single up the middle for a 3-0 lead.
Moreno gave the Eagles a little life in the last of the third, leading off with a triple to right center before scoring on a wild pitch to trim the lead to 3-1. Goodall singled in the next at-bat, but was cut down at second trying to steal to end the inning.
Eckerd chased Demarest from the game in the fourth, plating four runs to go up 7-1, and the Eagles couldn't cut into the lead in the fourth, fifth or sixth.
Nick Dearing gave ERAU 2.1 solid innings until the Eagles strung together some hits in the seventh, starting with a Swinarski single, followed by a Moreno walk. With one out and runners at first and second, Goodall took a 1-0 pitch down the left field line, plating Swinarski for career RBI 140 and breaking the tie he had with Mathis for the program record in career hits. Moreno would score on a Velasquez groundout, but the Eagles would get no closer as Eckerd scored the final three runs of the contest for the 10-3 victory.
Demarest (3-2) took the loss for the Eagles while
Dominic Jeancola, Dearing and Swinarski all saw time on the mound. Goodall finished 3-for-4 with an RBI while Swinarski was the only other Eagle with multiple hits. Moreno scored twice for the Blue and Gold.
Goodall, who has played in 222 of the team's 224 games since 2013, got to 276 hits in 821 career at-bats (an Embry-Riddle record). Of his 276 hits, 35 have been doubles, 14 triples (second-most in Eagle history) and five home runs, resulting in 354 total bases (fourth all-time). In additon to his hit record, the Eagle outfielder ranks second all-time in career games (222), first all-time in games started (221), fifth in runs (154), seventh in RBIs (140), fifth in walks (80), fifth in hit by pitches (27) and ninth in stolen bases (60).