DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The 2019 Embry-Riddle baseball season got off to an inauspicious start on Friday night as the visiting Valdosta State Blazers rode the left arms of Jonathan Gettys (1-0) and Tristan Cone to a 6-0 shutout of ERAU at Sliwa Stadium. The shutout loss marked the first shutout at home for the Eagles (0-1) since the 2014 season, and it was the first season-opening shutout for the ERAU offense since a 3-0 loss to Brewton-Parker in 1997. The Blazers (1-0) pitching staff limited the Eagles to just seven hits while racking up 17 strikeouts on the night.

VSU got all the offense it would need in the first inning as the Blazers took advantage of some early wildness from Eagle starter Payton Rice (0-1), scoring a pair of runs on three hits, a walk and a pair of wild pitches.

Blazer starter Gettys was dominant against the Eagle lineup, allowing just two hits with 10 strikeouts in his four innings of work. Kyle Marsh reached on a fielder's choice in the first, moving to second on an error and then to third on a passed ball. However, Gettys left him there with a strikeout of Luis Olivier, ending the inning and the threat.

Rice worked around a leadoff single in the second to deliver a scoreless frame as John Devine recorded the first Eagle hit of the season with a single in the bottom of the inning, but another Gettys K sent the game to the third.

Neither team scored in the third and the visitors again capitalized on an Eagle miscue, getting two unearned runs after an error earlier in the frame, doubling their lead to 4-0.

Zach Howard got the hardest Eagle hit of the night with a double off the fence in the fourth, but Gettys ended his night with a strikeout of Devine to leave Howard on base.

Valdosta State added single runs in the fifth and sixth, and ERAU was only able to manage a little bit of a rally in the last of the sixth inning as Kirk Sidwell and Olivier reached via singles, but Cone got out of the jam with two strikeouts and a ground ball.

J.C. Carrell proved to be a bright spot for the Eagles as the sophomore tossed 2.1 scoreless innings of relief starting in the seventh, fanning three Blazers and scattering two hits.

ERAU was able to get a few more runners in the final couple of innings, but Cone and then Call Graham in the ninth were able to preserve the shutout.

Olivier was the lone Eagle with multiple hits, finishing 2-for-4.

The two teams are slated to play a twin bill on Saturday, Feb. 2; but weather concerns may impact the contests.