LAKELAND, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle baseball team won its third consecutive Sunshine State Conference series on Saturday thanks to an 8-5 win over Florida Southern at Henley Field. The Eagles (19-10, 8-3 SSC) have won eight straight conference games and have already matched their 2017 and 2018 SSC series win total this season. The Mocs (17-13, 3-8 SSC) rallied late in the ninth, but ERAU was able to hold off the hosts to win its sixth straight game overall.
It was actually FSC that scored first when they broke up
Garrett Goodall's 19-inning no earned run streak with a two-run second inning on the back of four hits to go up 2-0.
The Eagles struggled to get much going against Moc starter Cooper Bradford, grounding into three double plays in the first four innings. But, the Eagles were able to scratch across a run in the fourth when
Zach Howard singled home
Kyle Marsh after Marsh and
Kirk Sidwell started the inning with back-to-back singles.
Goodall got a double play of his own in the last of the fourth to keep the score at 2-1 in favor of FSC, and the Blue and Gold offense turned things around in the fifth, starting with a
Jake Malone double.
After a
Cody Forster walk, Bradford got two outs to threaten to strand Malone and Forster, but Marsh came through with a single up the middle to tie things at 2-2. Sidwell followed with the go-ahead RBI single before a wild pitch moved both him and Marsh up a base. In the next at-bat,
Luis Olivier delivered the biggest blow of the game with a massive, three-run homer to left, putting ERAU up 6-2.
Goodall kept the Mocs off the scoreboard in the sixth and the seventh, and
Dominic Jeancola did the same when he entered in the bottom of the eighth inning as the visitors took their 6-2 lead to the final inning.
Forster started the frame with a walk before
Kyle Guttveg did the same and
John Devine ripped a double down the left field line after showing bunt to plate the Eagles' seventh run of the contest. Marsh collected a sac fly to score Guttveg as ERAU went up 8-2.
Jeancola struggled a little in the last of the ninth, walking two and allowing three hits as the Mocs plated three runs and brought the potential tying run to the plate. However, Jeancola got the last out with a lazy fly ball to center to secure the three-run win.
Goodall (5-0) tossed seven innings, allowing two runs with five Ks. The sophomore has now gone seven straight appearances allowing two earned runs or less.
Oliiver went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, with Marsh finishing 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs. Sidwell also had two hits, and Forster scored twice for the Blue and Gold.
Embry-Riddle will look for their third straight sweep and to stay in first-place in the SSC standings when they wrap up the series in Lakeland on Sunday at 1 p.m.
