DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Baseball season is back, and the Embry-Riddle baseball team enjoyed its 2018 season opener to the tune of a 10-3 win over visiting Tusculum on Thursday afternoon. The Eagles (1-0), beginning their 30th season of play, saw two early leads disappear before a huge sixth inning pushed ERAU to its first win of the year as a trio of Blue and Gold pitchers held the Pioneers (0-1) to just one earned run on the day.
Matthew Russell got the opening day nod for the Eagles, and the sophomore threw just eight pitches in the first frame to retire the first three TC batters, sending his team to the plate where Jake Malone collected the season's first hit with a base knock up the middle. ERAU couldn't take advantage of Malone's hit and a later Pioneer error as TC's Andrew Willis got out of the first without any damage.
Malone started the first of two straight inning-ending double plays to end the Tusculum second, snagging a sharply hit liner before firing to first to double-up Garrett Dupuis before Russell induced a 6-4-3 twin killing to end the top of the third.
Cole Habig was hit by a pitch to start the Eagle third, moving to second on a sacrifice bunt from
Mitchel Lindheim. After a
Kyle Guttveg single to right put runners on the corners, Willis was able to get the second out of the inning via a strikeout, but Kyle Marsh gave the hosts their first run of the year with a single to left center, scoring Habig for a 1-0 lead.
The lead didn't last long as Daultin Martin homered in the top of the fourth, sending a solo shot over the fence in right center to knot the game at 1-1. Russell limited the damage to just the one run by fanning Jarel McDade with two men on to send the game to the bottom of the fourth.
Zach Howard saw four Willis pitches before crushing a 2-2 pitch to straightaway center, clearing the fence easily and breaking the 1-1 deadlock. Habig kept the inning alive with a two-out double and then scored the third ERAU run of the contest thanks to back-to-back wild pitches from Willis.
Neither team scored in the fifth inning, but the Pioneers capitalized on two consecutive Eagle errors to start the sixth, tying the game on Nate Montgomery's single to left as two unearned runs came across to score, making it 3-3.
Christian Jaworski reached on an error to start the home sixth, moving to second on Alex Dodd's sacrifice bunt. Habig brought in the go-ahead run with a base hit to right, and after the ball took a wild hop past the right fielder, Habig raced all the way to third.
Justin Franklin, pinch hitting for Lindheim, drove a Eamon Collins pitch to left center for a stand-up double, pushing the Eagle lead to 5-3. After Malone was hit by a pitch and Marsh picked up an infield single,
Luis Olivier broke the game open with a double down the first base line, just past the diving Tusculum first baseman, plating two more Eagles for a 7-3 cushion. Howard then made it a delightful double-homer game on his birthday, punishing a Charles Hall pitch to left center for a three-run shot, effectively ending any hope of a TC comeback.
Nick Dearing, who took over for Russell in the sixth, pitched scoreless seventh and eighth innings, and
Garrett Goodall made his collegiate debut in the ninth, working around a one-out single with a game-ending strikeout to wrap up the 10-3 win.
Howard finished 2-for-4 with two homers and four RBIs, while Marsh, Olivier and Habig each added two hits. Dearing (1-0) got the win in relief, tossing three scoreless innings, allowing just two hits. Russell went five frames with four hits, one earned run and two strikeouts.
The Eagles improved to 22-8 in season openers and 21-9 in home openers, while their 10 runs were the most in a season opener since a 10-4 win over Brewton-Parker to start the 2010 season.
The Eagles hit the road to take on former skipper Greg Guilliams and his Valdosta State squad for a three-game series. First pitch on Friday is set for 5 p.m. in Valdosta, Ga.
