FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. - For just the second time since 2006, the Embry-Riddle Eagles were swept in a weekend series, falling to No. 13 Nova Southeastern as the Sharks took both games of Saturday's doubleheader, 10-8 and 6-0. The Sharks (31-13) overcame a 7-3 deficit in the sixth inning to knock off the Eagles (28-19) in the opener before shutting out the visitors 6-0 in the series finale, marking the first time the Eagles have been shutout this year.
ERAU will have two weeks off before wrapping up the 2016 season in Boca Raton as the Eagles and Lynn will sqaure off in a three-game series, starting with a Friday, May 6 contest at 3 p.m. and concluding with a doubleheader on Saturday, May 7 at 12 p.m.
Game 1 - NSU 10, ERAU 8
The Eagles looked in good shape to even the series in Saturday's opener, holding leads of 3-0, 5-2 and 7-3, but the Sharks got a huge, six-run sixth inning to take their first lead of the game before holding off ERAU for the 10-8 final.
Liam Goodall brought in
Tobias Moreno with a single after he and
Kyle Zirbes both walked to start the first inning, and
Jonathan Camp made it 2-0 with his own base hit up the middle before ERAU got its final run of the frame when
Joshua Garcia hit into a double play that allowed Goodall to score from third.
The Sharks got a single run in the bottom of the first off of Eagle starter
Kenny Burkhead, but that's all they would get until the fifth as the visitors added to their lead with a lone run in the third off a Garcia base hit and a lone run in the fifth from a Goodall double, both hits scoring Zirbes.
NSU trimmed the Eagle lead to 5-3 with a couple of runs in the fifth, but
Zach Howard got them right back for the Blue and Gold in the sixth with a two-run homer to left center, plating himself and Garcia for a 7-3 cushion.
The home-half of the sixth began with a solo home run from NSU, and five more runs would come around to score as the Eagles' four-run lead evaporated over the course of 11 NSU batters, eventually turning into a 9-7 Shark lead.
Embry-Riddle got to within a run when Camp scored on a Howard double in the eighth, but NSU returned the favor in the bottom of the inning to go back up by two runs at 10-8.
ERAU put two men on in the ninth, but back-to-back strikeouts of Goodall and Camp ended the threat and game in favor of NSU.
Burkhead (7-3) got the loss for the Eagles while both
Dylan Demarest and
Joey Gerber saw action out of the pen. Zirbes went 3-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored for ERAU, and Goodall, Garcia and Howard all collected two hits, with Howard driving in three runs.
Game 2 - NSU 6, ERAU 0
The series finale was all Nova Southeastern as the Sharks and their starter Julian Loret de Mola got all the runs they needed in the first as Loret de Mola tossed a complete game shutout of the Blue and Gold. The shutout was the first for the Eagles since the season finale of 2015 when Lewis-Clark State beat ERAU 2-0 in the NAIA World Series semifinals.
Corey Tufts made his first start for Embry-Riddle in three weeks, was roughed up in the first frame as NSU got a three-run home run followed by an RBI double to hold a 4-0 lead after an inning of play.
The Eagles didn't get their first baserunner until the third when
Matt Jacobs drew a one-out walk, and got their first hit when Zirbes beat out an infield sinle to start the fourth, but Loret de Mola proved to be too elusive for the Eagles as he kept them off-balance for the entire game.
Tufts settled in after the first inning and going 4.1 total frames before
Nick Dearing came in for him in the fifth. Dearing worked scoreless fifth and sixth innings before NSU got to him in the seventh for two runs, increasing the Sharks' lead to 6-0, which would be the final.
ERAU managed just five hits in the game and never got a runner past second base against Loret de Mola.
