BOCA RATON, Fla. - Despite its second-highest scoring output of the season, the Embry-Riddle baseball team dropped its series opener against Lynn on Friday, 16-15. The Eagles (28-20) were impressive offensively, scoring three runs in five separate innings, including the ninth, coming back from three-run deficits three times before the Fighting Knights (27-21) hit their seventh home run of the game in the bottom of the ninth for the walk-off win.
Lynn's seven homers were the most ever allowed by the Eagles in program history, overshadowing a great day at the plate for several Blue and Gold seniors, including
Matt Jacobs' 4-for-5 performance with two home runs and 11 total bases.
Lynn scored first in the home-half of the opening inning as Schindler hit the first of the Fighting Knights' seven homers, and then the hosts added to their lead with two more runs in the second for a 3-0 cushion.
ERAU got on the board and tied things up in the third when
Tobias Moreno brought in
Zach Howard with an RBI groundout before
Liam Goodall singled in
Dalton Hughes and
Jonathan Camp scored Goodall with a base hit up the middle.
The 3-3 tie was short lived however as Lynn scored three runs in its portion of the third to retake a three-run lead.
Jacobs started the Eagle rally in the fourth with a one-out double off the wall in left, followed by another, pushing
Kyle Zirbes, who had been hit by a pitch, to third before a wild pitch scored the Eagle third baseman. Moreno registered another RBI groundout before Howard scored for the second time in the game on a wild pitch.
A two-run Lynn home run in the fourth agian gave the home team a lead, but both teams went quietly in the fifth before Jacobs gave the Eagles a jolt of momentum with a leadoff long ball in the sixth. Following Jacobs' homer the Eagles loaded the bases and tied things up as Hughes scored on a throwing error.
Enderson Velasquez gave ERAU its first lead of the day with a sac fly to left, scoring Moreno for a 9-8 advantage.
LU got a solo home run in the seventh to knot the game at 9-9, but the visitors answered with a big eighth inning. Moreno doubled to left center with a runner at first and Goodall brough in a run with a sac fly before Velasquez delivered a huge two-run homer to left center for a 12-9 Embry-Riddle lead.
As had been the pattern for the entire game, Lynn came back in the eighth before going up by three runs thanks to a six-run frame, capped by a grand slam from Curtis that made it 15-12 in favor of the Fighting Knights.
The Eagle offense refused to give up in the ninth, clawing its way back to force the home team to bat in the last of the inning. Zirbes double to left before Jacobs notched his second home run of the day, trimming the deficit to 15-14. Two strikeouts later and the Blue and Gold was down to its final out, but Moreno worked a full count before getting hit by a pitch, stealing second and moving to third on a throwin error by the Lynn catcher. Goodall battled back from an 0-2 count to single in the tying run with a base hit through the left side.
Turner ended the nearly four hour contest with a home run in the first at-bat of the home ninth, resulting in the 16-15 final.
Every Eagle that started recorded a hit, led by Jacobs' 4-for-5 day and Goodall's 3-for-5 contest with three RBIs. Velasquez also had three RBIs, while Moreno had two RBIs and three runs scored.
The two teams will wrap up the 2016 season tomorrow, Saturday, May 7 with a 12 p.m. doubleheader.
