DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Sliwa Stadium has been the stage for numerous Embry-Riddle baseball comeback victories since it opened in 2001, and the Eagles added yet another on Saturday, mounting a six-run rally in the eighth inning before walking off on the Eckerd Tritons in the bottom of the ninth for a 13-12 win. The Tritons (9-16) led for nearly the entire contest, going up 11-5 in the fifth, but the Eagles (23-13) got a huge performance out of the bullpen by freshman Joey Gerber to keep them in it until the dramatics in the last two frames.

Gerber took over on the mound for the Eagles in the fifth, throwing 4.1 innings of one-hit, one-run baseball against the Tritons, and the home team finally broke through in the eighth, after being held scoreless from the fourth through the seventh.

After Jack Silberman got the first two Eagles he faced in the eighth, Joey Swinarski started the ERAU rally with a single up the middle. Cody Bogart singled down the left field line to put runners on the corners before Tobias Moreno singled in the first run of the inning. Liam Goodall collected the fourth straight Eagle hit to load the bases before a wild pitch allowed Bogart to scamper home from third, making it 11-7 in favor of EC. Enderson Velasquez walked to once again load the bases, this time for Jonathan Camp as he singled in a run with a base knock through the right side of the infield. Joshua Garcia's single to center brought in two more Eagles, making it a one run game at 11-10 before the Tritons went to the bullpen for Gardner Nutter. Nutter threw just eight pitches, all of them balls as both Kyle Zirbes and Matt Jacobs walked, the latter of which brought in Camp to tie the game at 11-11. Jack Favetta came in to face Swinarski, and the Eagle DH lined a ball to the right side that was snagged by Triton first baseman Nick Hill to keep the game tied.

The Eagles' fifth error of the game allowed Carter Cashman to reach first to start the ninth, and after a successful sacrifice bunt, Zirbes moved from third to the bump for Gerber. A fly out accounted for the second out before Tom Buonopane worked a full count against Zirbes and eventually won the battle, doubling down the left field line to bring in Cashman for a 12-11 Eckerd lead.

ERAU came back again, starting with a Bogart single to begin the last of the ninth before Moreno moved his pinch runner, Jimmy Jones III, to second with a sac bunt. After Goodall walked, the Tritons turned to Mike Eagan to try to save the game with runners at first and second and one away. Velasquez took a 2-1 pitch right back up the middle to score Jones III to tie it, moving Goodall to third in the process. Camp came up and finished the job, lifting an 0-1 pitch to deep right field, plenty deep enough for Goodall to tag up on and score as ERAU celebrated its third straight walk-off win in as many home games.

The game started off all Eckerd as the Tritons took advantage of two Eagle errors to score four unearned runs in the first off of Troy Naab. ERAU answered right back with three runs in its half of the inning, one on a Camp groundout and one more on an error by the EC centerfielder. Garcia, who reached third on the error, scored on a wild pitch during the next at-bat.

After a scoreless second for both teams, the Eagle defense again let Naab down as an error led to two more Eckerd runs for a 6-3 lead. However, the Eagles again scored right back, two runs coming in on a Garcia double to right center as Camp and Moreno both scored, trimming the lead to 6-5.

The Tritons pulled away in the fourth, scoring four runs and chasing Naab from the game before adding on a run in the fifth against Kyle Miller for an 11-5 lead.

ERAU loaded the bases with no outs in both the fourth and fifth innings, but both times came up empty before the big comeback in the eighth.

Kyle Zirbes got the win to move to 1-0 on the year, while the story for the Eagles on the mound was Gerber's strong showing.

Garcia finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs and Camp went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Moreno had three hits and scored three runs, while Goodall collected a pair of hits with three runs as well. Velasquez had a couple of hits and Swinarski and Bogart each added multiple hits for the Eagles. ERAU finished with a 17-12 advantage in hits.

The Eagles and Tritons meet up again tomorrow, Sunday, April 10 for a 12 p.m. doubleheader.