PENSACOLA, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle baseball team didn't allow an earned run on Friday night in its series opener at No. 17 West Florida, but the Argos took advantage of some sloppy Eagle defense to come away with a 4-1 win. The Eagles (9-8) saw their six-game win streak snapped, while the Argos (13-6) extended their winning ways to seven consecutive.
Agramont, the senior right-hander, twirled a gem, scattering seven hits and fanning six UWF batters, but it was four unearned runs over the course of two innings that caused Agramont (2-2) to take the loss.
Neither team could do much offensively through the first three frames, and Agramont was in the midst of setting down seven straight Argos in the fourth when he struck out Robert Lopez on a full count, but an errant throw down to first to complete the put out allowed him to get to second with one away. A ground out moved Lopez to third and a single through the infield pushed the Argos in front, 1-0.
Another quiet offensive inning for the Eagles awaited them in the fifth, and the bottom of the frame featured some porous defense from the Blue and Gold as the Eagles made three errors allowing three runs to score as UWF went up 4-0.
Luis Olivier got the Eagles on the board with a double to left center in the top of the sixth, driving in
Cody Forster who had walked to open the frame, and the Eagles looked poised to score some more when
Zach Howard collected his 150th career hit a few batters later, which would have loaded the bases, but Olivier was sent home and the Eagle catcher was gunned down at the plate to keep the game at 4-1.
Agramont tossed a scoreless sixth and seventh, and
Dominic Jeancola kept the Argos off the board in the eighth to send ERAU to the plate with a chance to make some late noise.
Howard walked in-between a couple of outs to start the ninth, but ERAU wouldn't lie down as
Cole Habig and then
Mike Lawson both singled to load the bases and keep ERAU alive.
Colin Ludwig was called on to pinch hit for Forster, but unfortunately for the Eagles, the home plate umpire wanted to go home and expanded the strike zone at an inopportune time for the visitors as Ludwig struck out looking to end the ballgame.
No Eagle had more than one hit as ERAU managed to out-hit UWF, 8-7. Tony Kucera (4-0) got the win in six innings for the Argos, while Josh Pahlad earned his third save of the year.
The two teams will meet up tomorrow to conclude the weekend series with a doubleheader beginning at 1 PM (CT) / 2 PM (ET).
