DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The defending NCAA II National Champs and current No. 18 Nova Southeastern Sharks pounded out 21 hits, including a Sliwa Stadium record five home runs, en route to a 20-6 blowout over the Embry-Riddle baseball team on Friday night. The Eagles (13-29) lost their 10th straight home game, despite recording 15 hits of their own, and owning an early 4-3 lead, as the Sharks (26-15) scored 17 straight runs from the second through the sixth innings to win the series opener of the weekend series.
The Sharks hit two long balls in the top of the first inning, jumping out to a 3-0 lead as
Aidan Brady saw his 11-inning no earned run streak come to an end in the opening frame.
The Eagle offense responded immediately against NSU starter Matt Hardy, starting with a
Robbie Hanlon single.
Cole Habig singled and then
Christopher Medina drew a walk to load the bases with no outs before
Luis Olivier brought in the first run of the game for the Eagles with a sac fly.
Zach Howard delivered an RBI single before
Justin Franklin tied things up with an RBI single of his own.
Kyle Guttveg's base knock up the middle gave the Eagles a 4-3 lead, but a double play ended the inning prematurely.
NSU quickly answered with two runs in the second, retaking a one-run lead at 5-4, and the Sharks would never relinquish it as they kept pounding out hits against the Eagles, including three more home runs and a total of nine extra-base hits. 11 of NSU's runs came with two outs in an inning, and the visitors blew the game wide open with four runs in the third, four in the fifth and a big, seven-run sixth.
ERAU got two runs in the seventh on a
Jordan Brown RBI single and
Ryan Maxon RBI ground out, but it was too little, too late as NSI cruised to the 14-run win.
The Eagles used seven pitchers in the game as
Tim Retamoza and
Jason Dodson proved to be bright spots over the final three innings as neither allowed a run and totaled seven strikeouts between them.
Hanlon finished 4-for-5 while Franklin went 3-for-3 for the Blue and Gold.
ERAU and NSU will square off in a twin bill tomorrow, Saturday, April 22 beginning at 1 p.m.
