MELBOURNE, Fla. - A wild series finale went the Embry-Riddle baseball team's way on Friday afternoon as the Eagles salvaged one win in the three-game set with Florida Tech, winning the second game of the twin bill, 6-5 in 10 innings. The Panthers (23-15) took the day's opener, 7-2, ensuring a series win after claiming Thursday night's contest from the Eagles (13-27).
Embry-Riddle returns to Sliwa Stadium after a seven-game road trip as the Blue and Gold plays host to Flagler on Tuesday, April 18 at 6 p.m.
Game 1 - FIT 7, ERAU 2
For the fifth consecutive weekend game,
Aidan Brady took the mound for the Eagles, going three scoreless frames to stretch his unearned runs streak to 11 consecutive innings.
Brady and his FIT counterpart, Grant Willcoxon, traded scoreless frames through the first three innings, but FIT got to ERAU reliever
Austin Lee in the fourth, scoring three times, two of the runs being unearned, to take a 3-0 lead.
The Panthers tacked on three more runs in teh fifth to double their lead to 6-0 and the ERAU offense was held in check by Willcoxon and Luke Lorah, finding themselves behind 7-0 when they came to bat in the ninth.
The visitors were able to finally score off Lorah in the last inning as
Gunnar Bradshaw plated
Jordan Brown and
Ryan Maxon with a single, but Lorah got the last out of the game to preserve the 7-2 victory.
Bradshaw finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, while Lee (3-6) took the loss in 5.0 innings of relief.
Game 2 - ERAU 6, FIT 5 (10)
The Eagles were able to shrug off a ninth-inning disaster and win the final series game in extras, 6-5. ERAU got a fantastic start from
Kenny Burkhead as the senior nearly went the distance, tossing 8.2 innings, allowing just three runs while scattering 10 hits, but was relieved with two outs in the ninth.
Leading 4-3, Burkhead got the first two outs of the ninth quickly, but a double ended his day as Brady entered to try to nail down the win. A wild pitch moved the potential tying run to third, and after a walk, Brady appeared to get the game-ending ground ball that he wanted, but an infield error allowed the tying run to score, as well as the potential go-ahead run to reach third.
Justin Franklin, who had entered in the prior inning, made a great leaping catch on a line drive in the next at-bat, preserving the game and sending it to extras.
Embry-Riddle showed impressive resolve after seeing the lead disappear on the error, getting the leadoff man on in the 10th as Bradshaw singled to left. After a failed sacrifice attempt,
Ryan Maxon delivered a stinging double to the gap in left center, pushing Bradshaw to third and then the Eagles got aggressive, electing for a suicide squeeze and executing it to perfection as
Robbie Hanlon picked up his third RBI of the game, bringing in Bradshaw for a 5-4 lead.
Zach Howard followed that up with a single to left center, plating Maxon for an important insurance run, making it 6-4.
Troy Naab took the mound for Brady in the 10th, issuing a pair of walks around a strikeout. After a fly out for out number two, the Panthers got a single up the middle to creep within a run at 6-5. However, Naab froze pinch hitter Michael Jenks with a strike three call, saving his third game of the season.
Before the late-inning drama, the Eagles took an early 2-0 lead in the first as Hanlon singled through the infield for two RBIs, scoring both
Jordan Brown and Bradshaw.
Burkhead allowed one run in the third, but ERAU extended its lead in the fourth with another two-run frame, the first on a sac fly from
Luis Olivier and the second on a sac bunt from
Cole Habig as ERAU went up 4-1.
FIT got single runs in the fourth and sixth, but that's all they could muster against Burkhead until the error in the ninth.
The win went to Brady (2-1) in his 0.1 innings of work, and Hanlon finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs, while Howard went for three hits and Brown and Olivier each finished with two.
