DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Trailing 11-6 to Webber International in the seventh inning, it appeared as if the nine Embry-Riddle seniors would end their Sliwa Stadium careers with a loss, but the Eagles rallied to tie things up before walking off for the fifth time in 2016 on a
Jonathan Camp sacrifice fly as
Liam Goodall scored the winning run from third for a 12-11 victory over the Warriors. The Eagles (28-16) finished off the season sweep of the Warriors (29-17) on Senior Night to finish 19-9 in their home schedule.
It was the Eagles who scored first when Camp grounded out in the bottom of the first, and on the throw from the WIU catcher to first,
Tobias Moreno, who began the inning with a double before moving to third on an
Enderson Velasquez single, snuck home for an early 1-0 lead.
The Warriors tied things up in the second off of Eagle starter
Dylan Demarest, but the hosts quickly regained the lead in the last of the frame as
Dalton Hughes and Moreno each collected RBI singles to score
Matt Jacobs and
Zach Howard, respectively.
The visitors chased Demarest and the Eagles' first reliever
Troy Naab from the game in the third, scoring six runs on five hits, including a Lenin Sanchez two-run homer, to go up 7-3 on the Blue and Gold.
ERAU went quietly in the third, but
Dominic Jeancola was able to deliver a scoreless fourth for the Eagles and Embry-Riddle got two runs back in the bottom of the inning as Velasquez doubled down the left field line to plate both Goodall and Howard, trimming the Warrior lead to 7-5.
Unfortunately, the momentum swung back towards the Warriors as they pushed across two runs of their own in the fifth, going back up by four at 9-5.
Jacobs made it 9-6 when he collected a base hit to score
Kyle Zirbes after Zirbes doubled to left center with one out in the fifth.
Again the momentum the Eagles had garnered in their offensive at-bat was given back to the visitors when WIU scored two runs in the top of the sixth for their biggest lead of the game, 11-6.
ERAU stranded a pair of runners in the sixth and
Joey Gerber kept WIU off the scoreboard in the seventh, setting up a big inning for the Blue and Gold in the bottom of the frame. The inning started with a Jacobs single, followed by a Howard walk and Hughes single that loaded the bases with no outs. Ben Burdett was called on to get out of the jame, but Moreno singled in a run before Goodall drew a bases-loaded walk, making it 11-8. Velasquez came through with his third and fourth RBIs of the contest with a single to right as the score moved to 11-10, and Camp tied the game with a ground out to third, scoring Goodall.
Thw Warriors were able to get out of the seventh without the Eagles going ahead, and
Kenny Burkhead came in for the home team on the mound, delivering a scoreless eighth and ninth in advance of the dramatics in the last of the ninth inning.
Goodall doubled down the line to start the ninth, moving to third on a Velasquez bunt single before Camp lifted a 3-0 pitch to deep center, allowing Goodall to tag up and score for the 12-11 walk-off win.
Burkhead (7-2) got the win in 2.0 innings of relief, striking otu three batters, allowing just one hit. Velasquez went 4-for-6 with four RBIs as Moreno and Hughes each recorded three hits and Camp finished with three RBIs. Goodall went 2-for-5 with three runs scored and Jacobs was the other Eagle to register multiple hits.
Wednesday's game marked the final home contest in the careers of Jacobs,
Joshua Garcia, Zirbes, Goodall, Velasquez, Hughes,
Corey Tufts and Moreno, marking the 202nd Embry-Riddle win over their tenure.
ERAU travels to Ft. Lauderdale this weekend for a three-game series at Nova Southeastern, beginning with a single game on Friday, April 22 at 6 p.m. and concluding with a twin bill on Saturday, April 23 at 1 p.m.
