DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle baseball team played nearly seven hours of baseball on Saturday afternoon and evening, splitting a doubleheader with Palm Beach Atlantic, 17-15 and 10-6 as the Sailfish took the three-game series over the Eagles, two games to one.

ERAU (3-3) held on in a wild opener to begin the day, beating PBA (5-2) 17-15 despite being out-hit 25-17 in the contest. The Eagles survived a five-run ninth from the Sailfish before Vincent Rosace was able to finally end the four-plus hour affair to earn his first save of the season.

In the rubber match of the series, the Eagles found themselves down 7-1 before clawing their way back to within two runs in the fifth, but PBA added some insurance over the final few frames to claim the series with a 10-6 win.

The Eagles hit the road for a four-game trip to Georgia next week, starting with a Thursday, Feb. 16 contest at Valdosta State before a three-game set with Georgia College from Feb. 17-19.

Game 1 - ERAU 17, PBA 15
The day's opener featured 32 combined runs, 42 combined hits, 15 combined walks, four combined hit by pitches, and well over 400 total pitches in nine innings. The scoring started right away as the Sailfish took a 1-0 lead on an RBI groundout from Peter Rivera against Eagle starter Jackson McFarland, but the lead did not last long as Jonathan Camp hit his first home run of the season in the bottom of the inning, a two-run blast to straight-away center, scoring Kyle Guttveg as ERAU took a 2-1 lead.

The Sailfish answered right back with a three-run second, all three runs coming as unearned after an Eagle error, but again the home team responded, plating six runs in the last of the second for an 8-4 lead. Zach Howard got the scoring started in the frame with a bases-loaded RBI walk, followed by a Luis Olivier single to left that tied the game at 4-4. Cody Bogart drew another bases-loaded walk to push across the go-ahead run before Justin Franklin delivered a bases-clearing double to account for three more Eagle runs.

McFarland held PBA to a single run in the third and the Eagles blew the game open with five tallies in the home-half of the inning. After two walks started the frame, Robbie Hanlon singled to right to load the bases and A.J. Mazzurco wore a pitch for an RBI, followed by a wild pitch to make it 10-5 Embry-Riddle. Bogart drew his second consecutive RBI walk before Franlin registered a sacrifice fly and Jordan Hicks was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded as the Blue and Gold enjoyed a 13-5 advantage.

Nick Dearing relieved McFarland to start the fourth, and the sophomore was able to hold the Sailfish just one run in the fourth and fifth, before another crooked number for the Eagle offense occurred in the bottom of the fifth. A sac fly each from Guttveg and Mazzurco came sandwhiched around a Hanlon RBI double and the Eagles found themselves up, 16-6.

PBA got to within 17-10 heading into the top of the ninth and that's when things started to get interesting as PBA strung together some hits against Quinn Bourque, scoring four runs and bringing the potential tying run to the plate before Rosace entered. Rosace surrendered an RBI single that put the tying run on base, but was able to induce a fly ball to center that ended the game with ERAU claiming a 17-15 victory.

Dearing (1-0) got the win in relief, tossing four innings, while Rosace pitched 0.1 inning to earn his first save as an Eagle. Franklin recorded five RBIs on two hits, while Camp, Mazzurco and Bogart each ahd a pair of RBIs, and Hanlon finished 4-for-6 at the plate.

Game 2 - PBA 10, ERAU 6
For the third time in the series, the visitors took an early lead, going up 2-0 in the first before adding on five in the second against ERAU starter Troy Naab. The bright spot for the Eagle was a leadoff homer from Guttveg in the bottom of the first inning, his first collegiate long ball.

ERAU's first three innings in the finale ended in double plays turned by the Sailfish, but the fourth was a different story. Mazzurco sparked the Eagle offense with a double to deep right that hit off the fence, scoring both Franklin and Howard after an two errors in the inning, and Matthew Russell, who came in for Naab in the second, delivered a shutdown inning in the top of the fifth before the hosts added one two more runs on an Olivier double, plating both Hanlon and Guttveg, trimming the deficit to 7-5.

An Eagle error led to a PBA run in the sixth, and two more Sailfish touched home in the seventh as PBA reclaimed the momentum while they turned to David Paul out of the bullpen.

Paul pitched the final 4.1 innings for PBA, earning the win in impressive fashion, only allowing one run, an unearned tally in the Eagle seventh. The Eagles couldn't get closer than four runs and despite a perfect two innings from Kenny Burkhead in the eighth and ninth, ERAU dropped the final game of the series.

Guttveg as the only Eagle with multiple hits in the final Saturday contest, while both Olivier and Mazzurco had two RBIs.