DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle baseball team will have to wait another week to try for its first Sunshine State Conference win as the Nova Southeastern Sharks completed the weekend sweep of the Eagles with two Saturday wins, 5-4 and 12-4. The Eagles (6-5, 0-3 SSC) left eight men on base in the day's opener, and despite taking an early 4-0 lead, couldn't answer the Sharks' five-run output over the middle innings, ultimately falling by a run. In the series finale, the Sharks (6-4, 3-0 SSC) capitalized on six Eagle errors, scoring 12 total runs (four earned), including a five-spot in the ninth to put the game away.

The Eagles return to the diamond on Monday to host Davenport for a 6 p.m. contest at Sliwa Stadium.

Game 1 - NSU 5, ERAU 4
A 4-0 lead wouldn't stand up for the Eagles as the home team was held scoreless over the final six innings by the NSU bullpen as the Sharks rallied for a 5-4 lead to capture a series win.

Matthew Russell and Derik Beauprez tossed scoreless first innings, but Zach Howard launched his SSC-leading seventh home run of the season out to left with one out in the second, and the Eagles kept the pressure on Beauprez as Justin Franklin and Kyle Guttveg both scored on a Cole Habig single to make it 3-0 and chase the NSU starter from the game.

Franklin brought in the fourth Eagle run in the third when he singled to left center off of Ryan Maya, plating Kyle Marsh, but that was the final run the Eagles would muster in the contest.

A wild pick off attempt in the fourth led to the first Shark run of the day, and the visitors chipped away against Russell with another run in the fifth to trim the lead to 4-2.

Maya kept the Eagle batters off balance in the bottom of the middle innings and the Sharks tied things up in the sixth, again thanks to a failed pick off attempt and an Ian Acevedo double to left center, scoring Dylan Harris and Andrew Liberty.

ERAU put two men on second and third in the last of the sixth, but a foul out from Jackson McFarland kept the game tied at 4-4.

Nick Dearing took over for Russell after a leadoff double in the seventh, and Dearing nearly was able to get out of the frame thanks to a ground out and strikeout, but a wild pitch with a runner at third allowed the go-ahead run to score as NSU took its first lead of the day, 5-4.

The Blue and Gold stranded a pair in the bottom of the seventh and a big 5-3 double-play ended the last of the eighth with the Eagles threatening as the NSU bullpen continued to stymie the Eagles.

ERAU went quietly in the bottom of the ninth as Joe Strzelecki picked up his first save of the 2018 season.

Russell (1-1) got the loss in six innings of work, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits with four strikeouts. Frankllin finished with three hits for the Eagles.

Game 2 - NSU 12, ERAU 4
The Eagle defense let down Daniel Agramont in the series finale, despite the ERAU starter striking out nine in 6.1 innings and allowing just two earned runs. Six Eagle errors, combined with two passed balls that allowed strikeout victims to reach base resulting in five unearned runs to score against Agramont.

The Eagles took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first when Luis Olivier singled in Kyle Marsh from third after Habig scored on a Marsh ground ball.

The Sharks tied the game in the second before Jake Malone homered to regain the lead for ERAU, 3-2 in the bottom of the inning. 

The teams traded runs in the third, with the Eagles breaking a 3-3 tie when Olivier brought in Zach Howard for a 4-3 cushion, the last lead of the day for the hosts.

NSU scored a pair of runs in the fourth to go in front, 5-4, and Brady Acker delivered the first scoreless half-inning in the bottom of the fourth.

Ronny Orta came in for Acker in the fifth, and the reliever allowed just two hits over four relief innings, striking out nine Eagle batters as the Sharks extended the lead to 6-4 in the sixth and then 7-4 in the seventh before plating five runs in the ninth to seal the win, 12-4.

The NSU pitchers combined to strikeout 18 Eagle batters while holding them to just five hits in the game.