DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -
Garrett Goodall tossed a two-hit, complete game shutout of visiting Florida Tech on Saturday afternoon as the Embry-Riddle baseball team secured the series over the Panthers with an 11-0 victory. The Eagles (16-10, 5-3) took an early 3-0 lead before adding eight runs over their final three at-bats, but Goodall only needed one run as the sophomore pitched the best game of his career, registering the first complete game of the 2019 season for ERAU and the first conference shutout since 2014 (a 10-0 victory over Florida Memorial by Corey Tufts on April 5, 2014). Both hits from the Panthers (14-11, 5-6 SSC) came off the bat of Blaise Maris as the FIT bats were stymied by Goodall, who needed just 97 pitches to get all 27 outs with four Ks.
Goodall settled in right away, facing the minimum in the first, but the Eagles came up empty in the bottom of the frame when FIT starter Colin Cristello stranded a runner at third to end the inning.
John Devine made a fantastic diving grab at first base to record the second out in the second before Maris collected the first of his two hits, but Goodall left him on base by getting a fly out off the bat of Jakob Newton.
The hosts got a leadoff walk from
Luis Olivier in the last of the second inning and
Cody Forster collected the game-winning RBI with a two-out double to left center to score the game's first run.
Jake Malone followed with a line drive down the right field line that went all the way into the right field corner, and Malone showed off his speed, dashing around the bases for just the fifth inside-the-park home run in Sliwa Stadium history, making it 3-0 Embry-Riddle.
Goodall and Cristello traded zeroes through the top of the sixth inning, but Olivier hammered his fourth home run of the year in the bottom of the sixth, driving in
Kirk Sidwell after he led off the inning with a walk, and extending the Eagle lead to 5-0.
Goodall worked around an error and walk in the seventh to deliver another scoreless frame and the Eagles blew it open in the next half inning as Sidwell, Olivier and
Zach Howard all collected RBI singles before Howard scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-0.
Embry-Riddle tacked on two more runs in the eighth, one on a
Kyle Guttveg single that plated Malone, and the other on a
Josh Reynolds base hit to right, scoring Guttveg and accounting for the 11-0 final.
Goodall set down two straight pinch hitters to start the ninth before a fly ball to center from Brett Parrish ended the game as Goodall walked off the mound with his fourth win of the season.
Goodall (4-0) helped lower the Eagles' team ERA to 3.62 with his nine-inning shutout, while ERAU pounded out 15 hits on the offensive side of things, upping the team batting average to an even .300.
Olivier finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs, wile Guttveg, Devine, Sidwell, Howard and Malone also each finished with two hits. Malone drove in a pair of runs and scored a pair for the Blue and Gold.
Embry-Riddle will look for the series sweep tomorrow at 1 p.m. as the Eagles and Panthers conclude their three-game set.