DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle baseball team put on an offensive display on Tuesday at Sliwa Stadium, mounting two comeback wins over visiting Pfeiffer in a doubleheader sweep, 8-6 and 19-7. The Eagles (9-10) stretched their longest winning streak of the season to four games as Pfeiffer (9-10) couldn't keep pace with the Blue and Gold offense.
Game 1 - ERAU 8, PU 6 (7)
The day's first game featured five lead changes and three ties as both teams went back-and-forth over the scheduled seven frames.
The visiting team struck first when Tanner Mathis singled to center, plating John Elwood from second against Eagle starter
Jackson McFarland, but the lefty was able to strand runners on the corners by striking out Brandall Peters to end the inning.
The Eagles answered almost immediately as
A.J. Mazzurco and
Kyle Guttveg both reached base to start the bottom of the first before each moved up a base on a wild pitch.
Jonathan Camp singled Mazzurco in before
Justin Franklin brought in Guttveg with a sac fly to left for a 2-1 lead.
Luis Olivier hit his first career triple in the next at-bat, scoring Camp before he scored on a
Zach Howard sacrifice fly, making it 4-1 in favor of ERAU.
A hit batter, followed by a double and consecutive groundouts scored two runs for the Falcons, cutting their deficit to 4-3 in the second, and the Eagles came up empty in their second and third frames.
The Falcons strung together three one-out hits against McFarland in the fourth, taking a 5-4 lead and chasing him from the game as
Luke Helms relieved him. Helms was able to keep the Eagles within one by stranding a runner at third, but again the home team was unable to score in the bottom of the inning.
Helms left runners at second and third in the fifth, and this time the Eagles finally broke through as Oliver singled with one out, moving to second after
Christopher Medina walked. Howard collected his second RBI of the game with a single to left, scoring Olivier who showed off his speed by scoring from second. After
Cody Bogart walked to load the bases,
Robbie Hanlon gave the Eagles the lead with a single through the left side, but that's all the Eagles could get in the inning as Jordan Toney was able to strand the bases full to end the fifth.
Pfeiffer got to Helms in the top of the sixth when Cody McKenzie plated Dylan Goodman with an RBI single to left, and after an Eagle error allowed two men on base with no outs,
Troy Naab entered the contest trying to keep the game tied. After a double steal put both runners in scoring position, Naab induced a ground ball to short that the drawn-in infield was able to turn into an out without a run scoring, followed by another ground ball that resulted in an out between third and home before Naab struck out Zach Scudder to end the threat and send the game to the last of the sixth, tied at 6-6.
Camp reached first on an error to lead things off for ERAU in the sixth, moving to second on a balk and third on a wild pitch during an Olivier at-bat. Medina was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out for Howard. Howard hit a sharp ground ball to short that looked to be a perfect inning-ending double play ball, but a bad throw from second to first allowed Howard to reach safely and both Camp and
Quinn Bourque, Olivier's pinch runner, to score for an 8-6 Eagle lead.
Naab made quick work of the Falcons in the seventh, sandwiching two fly outs around a backwards K to nail down the win.
Naab (1-3) got the win in two innings of relief, while Howard collected three RBIs on one hit and both Olivier and Guttveg recorded two hits each.
Game 2 - ERAU 19, PU 7
In game two, the first three innings were just an extension of the day's opener as three lead changes were made. However, a seven-run fourth put the Eagles up big and the hosts added six more runs to cruise to the 12-run final.
The first inning featured a good chunk of drama as a controversial call eventually led to three runs for the Falcons. With a runner at second and one out, Tanner Mathis lined a ball to second where Mazzurco made a nice, diving grab in the air, flipping to second for an easy double play to end the inning. However, the field umpire originally ruled the ball hit the ground before Mazzurco caught it and the runner, who was off to third on the play, was safe as well. After the umpires got together, the batter was ruled out, but the runner at second was allowed to stay there, and on the very next pitch Scudder homered to left center for a 2-0 Pfeiffer lead.
The Falcons scored one more run against
Tim Retamoza in the first, but after a scoreless top of the second, the Eagles got back into it, starting with a Franklin walk. After a couple of batters, Medina brought in Franklin from third with a sac fly, and the Howard and Hanlon hit back-to-back singles before
Ryan Maxon scored them both with a deep double to left, tying the game at 3-3. Mazzurco brought Maxon in with an RBI single to right an the Eagles took the lead for the first time in the game.
Retamoza was chased in the third after three runs scored, and
Austin Lee came in for his first appearance out of the pen in 2017. Lee got out of the third inning with ERAU down 7-4, but the three-run deficit quickly shrank to one when Olivier hit his second home run of the season, a monster two-run shot to left that made it 7-6.
Lee worked around two base hits in the fourth, and the bottom of the fourth proved disastrous for the Falcons. With Maxon on second and two outs, Guttveg drew a walk to keep the inning alive, followed by a crucial infield error that loaded the bases on ball off the bat of Camp. Franklin got an infield single to tie the game at 7-7 before Olivier gave the Eagles the lead for good with a single to left center, plating two runs. After Medina walked to again load the bases, Howard hit a booming shot down the left field line, clearing the fence for second homer of the season, a grand slam to make it 13-7 Embry-Riddle.
The Eagles added a pair of runs in the fifth on Camp and Franklin base hits after Lee had a perfect outing in the top of the frame.
Jason Dodson had the second straight perfect inning for the Eagles in the sixth, and Embry-Riddle put the game completely out of reach with four more runs in the sixth as
Jimmy Jones III,
Gunnar Bradshaw and
Jordan Brown all collected RBIs.
Aidan Brady struck out the side in the top of the seventh to secure the 19-7 win for the Eagles in his first appearance of the year.
Lee (2-2) got the win in relief, throwing 2.1 innings, allowing two hits with three strikeouts. Both Howard and Olivier had four RBIs for the Eagles, as Howard went 3-for-4 with three runs, and Olivier finished 2-for-4 with two runs. Franklin, Brown and Maxon each had two RBIs for the Blue and Gold.
Embry-Riddle hosts Barry this weekend for a three-game set, starting with a Friday night game at 6 p.m.