DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -
Kyle Marsh hit three home runs, including a walk-off no-doubter to lift the Embry-Riddle baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of Felician on Saturday. The Eagles (5-2) blew out the Golden Falcons (0-3) in the day's opener, 17-3, before seeing a 10-run lead disappear in just two innings in the nightcap, but Marsh sent the Sliwa Stadium crowd home happy with a bomb to left for a 14-13 win in seven innings.
The Eagles, having already won the four-game series against Felician, will host the Golden Falcons in the finale on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 1 p.m.
Game 1 - ERAU 17, Felician 3
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Embry-Riddle hit five home runs and scored in every inning save the first in a 17-3 win over Felician to start the day. The visitors went through six pitchers and struggled throughout with free passes, issuing 12 walks and hitting four ERAU batters.
For the second game in a row the Falcons struck first, getting an unearned run in the top of the first after an error and double allowed Jason Aponte to touch home against ERAU starter
Cody Crouse.
Crouse worked around a hit batter and two-out single in the second, sending ERAU to the plate where they pushed across three runs on just two hits, chasing Felician starter Rob Naughton from the game. Back-to-back walks started the inning before
Kyle Guttveg tied the game with a single to center, scoring
Zach Howard from second. An infield hit from
Joe Lucas loaded the bases with one out and
Cole Habig drew a bases-loaded walk to put the Eagles in front. A strikeout and then another bases-loaded walk, this time to Marsh, forced Naughton from the game with the Eagles leading 3-1.
Crouse tossed a scoreless third and Howard immediately followed with a leadoff blast down the left field line, his fourth long ball of the season, making it 4-1.
The Eagles caught a break in the top of the fourth when, with runners on the corners and two outs, Crouse walked L.T. Struble, but the runner at third, Ronnie Sessa thought the bases were loaded and started walking slowly towards home.
Luis Olivier, the Eagle catcher, threw to
Alex Dodd at third and Dodd tagged Sessa out to get the Eagles out of the inning.
ERAU blew the game open in the fourth, but did so with just one hit. A fielding error allowed Dodd to reach, followed by a Marsh walk and two straight wild pitches as Dodd touched home for the first of four runs in the frame. Olivier tripled to right center in the next at-bat, coming home to score on a Howard sac fly.
Kyle Guttveg walked with two outs, stealing second and after
Jake Malone walked, Guttveg scored when Lucas popped a ball up on the right side of the infield, the ball dropped between several Felician fielders, and the throw to second to try and get Malone sailed into left field, allowing Guttveg to score for an 8-1 Eagle lead.
Matt Diesel brought in Aponte from third with a single in the fifth, and a sac fly from Anthony Santoro brought Felician to within 8-3, but Crouse limited the damage to just those two runs, getting Christian Hoplock to fly to center for the final out of the inning.
The hosts got those two runs back and then some in the home-half of the fifth, thanks to two errors and two hits.
Mitchel Lindheim drew a bases-loaded walk for the inning's first run, and Guttveg singled to center to score Marsh. With the bases loaded, Lucas singled to right center, bringing in Guttveg and Lindheim for a 12-3 Embry-Riddle lead.
Troy Naab took over for Crouse to start the sixth, working a scoreless inning before Marsh collected his first homer of the day, a two-run shot down the left field line for a 14-3 Eagle cushion.
Garrett Goodall worked around a single and walk in the seventh to deliver a scoreless inning, and
Jimmy Jones III registered his first career home run with a missile to left center in the last of the seventh.
The Eagles got back-to-back homers from
Joaquin Sequeira and
Christian Jaworski in the eighth, and
Kyle Miller went three-up, three-down in the ninth to seal the 17-3 win.
Crouse (1-0) went five innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with two strikeouts, while Naab, Goodall and Miller combined to pitch four scoreless innings.
Marsh finished the first game 1-for-1 with three RBIs, three walks and three runs and the trio of Lucas, Guttveg and Howard each collected a pair of RBIs.
Game 2 - ERAU 14, Felician 13 (7)
The night game featured wild momentum swings as the Eagles once led 13-3 before 10 straight runs from the visitors forced ERAU to bat in the bottom of the seventh, leading to Marsh's walk-off blast.
Neither team scored in the first two innings as
Samuel Brunnig and Jacob Nappi kept it 0-0 until the third when Bruce Strickland hit a sacrifice fly to left to plated Armando Ovalles from third following a leadoff double and sac bunt. The Eagles couldn't answer in the bottom of the third, but did answer in the fourth, sending 10 batters to the plate for a seven-run inning.
Olivier started things with a single to left, advancing to second on a Howard walk and then both men scored when Habig put down a sacrifice bunt that was thrown away, putting Habig all the way to third and a 2-1 Eagle lead.
Jake Malone followed with a triple to deep center, scoring on a wild pitch in the next at-bat for a 4-1 lead. Bogart was hit by a pitch before Dodd collected an infield single with one out as Nappi exited for Quinn Taylor. Guttveg singled to right center against Taylor and it would have loaded the bases, but the throw in from center was thrown into the Eagle dugout, allowing both Bogart and Dodd to score and Guttveg to go to third. Guttveg scored on another wild pitch in Marsh's at-bat as the Eagles enjoyed a 7-1 advantage.
Strickland hit a two-run homer in the fifth, chasing Brunnig from the contest in favor of
Joey Gerber, and Gerber kept the score at 7-3 by recording the final two outs of the inning.
ERAU appeared to put the game well out of reach with another crooked inning in the bottom of the fifth, scoring six on four hits including a grand slam from Marsh. Bogart got the scoring started with a sac fly to left, plating Habig after he singled and Malone doubled. Jaworski and Dodd both walked to load the bases and Guttveg drew the third straight walk to bring in the Eagles' ninth run of the contest. Frank Campinelli came in to try and get the last out of the inning, but Marsh greeted him with his second homer of the day, a grand slam to left to make it 13-3.
The Falcons started their comeback in the sixth, working against
Tim Retamoza. Two walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with one away before
Dominic Jeancola was called upon from the pen. Jeancola got the second out with a strikeout, but a walk to Strickland forced in a run and then Struble followed with a bases-clearing triple to left center. Struble touched home on a wild pitch to make it 13-8 before Jeancola got Diesel to ground out to second, ending the inning.
ERAU came up empty in the last of the sixth and
Aidan Brady got just one out before giving up a single and then a fielder's choice that resulted in two men safely on base sue to an Eagle error. A walk to Aponte loaded the bases and an infield single back to the mound cut the Eagle lead to 13-9. Sessa was hit by a pitch, scoring another Felician run, and Strickland then doubled to right center against the new pitcher Naab, making it a one-run game at 13-12.
Struble tied the game in the next at-bat with a single to center, bringing home Sessa. Strickland was sent around third to try and give the visitors the lead, but a great throw from the outfield was right on target at home, easily beating Strickland, but the Felician shortstop tried to jar the ball loose from
Cody Bogart, crashing into him and earning an ejection from the home plate umpire.
Naab was able to keep the game tied by getting Diesel to ground out to third with Struble at second base, ending the inning, 13-13.
Marsh worked a 2-2 count against Tyler Pepper at the start of the bottom of the seventh, and the Port Orange native ended the game with a crushing homer down the left field line for the 14-13 victory.
Marsh finished 2-for-5 with five RBIs and two runs scored, while Dodd, Olivier, Habig and Malone all recorded two hits in the win. Naab (1-0) got the win in relief.
