DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Eagle offense was humming and the Blue and Gold pitchers had a huge bounce-back weekend as the Embry-Riddle baseball team completed the three-game conference sweep of Lynn at Sliwa Stadium on Saturday with a 9-1 win in the day's opener and an 11-4 victory in the series finale. The Eagles (25-15, 14-7 SSC) moved back into first place in the SSC standings with the weekend sweep, sending the Fighting Knights (16-26, 6-21) to their 10th-straight defeat.

Embry-Riddle will trek to Miami Shores this weekend to take on Barry in a three-game set, beginning with a Friday night contest at 6 p.m.

Game 1 - ERAU 9, Lynn 1
Payton Rice dominated on the bump for the Eagles to secure the series win for ERAU, while the Eagle offense turned a scoreless game after the opening three innings into a blowout thanks to a three-run fifth and three-run seventh.

Rice faced the minimum in the first and the Eagles threatened in their half, but Misael Castillo was able to get out of the frame unhurt, and Rice and Castillo matched zeroes through three.

ERAU finally got on the board in the fourth when they loaded the bases with no outs and Cole Habig brought in the first run of the day with a sac fly to center, plating Luis Olivier for a 1-0 lead.

Rice delivered a shutdown inning in the fifth and the Eagles scored three times in their half to run out to a 4-0 lead. Kyle Guttveg singled through the right side with Cody Forster at third to make it 2-0, and Guttveg later scored on a Kyle Marsh batted ball that was misplayed. Marsh touched home when Zach Howard was able to reach on the fourth Lynn error of the frame, pushing the advantage to 4-0.

Another scoreless inning for Rice came in the sixth, but the visitors got one run in the seventh to trim the deficit to 4-1. However, a two-run opposite-field homer from Howard extended the ERAU cushion to 6-1 before Kirk Sidwell scored on a wild pitch later in the inning.

Joey Gerber started the eighth inning on the mound and faced the minimum before the hosts put the game away with two two more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, the first on a John Devine RBI single to score Guttveg and the last on another Lynn error, their sixth of the contest.

Gerber worked around a leadoff single in the ninth to close things out for the Eagles and seal the 9-1 win.

Rice (3-5) tossed seven innings, allowing one run on three hits with a season-best seven strikeouts. Gerber pitched a scoreless two innings for ERAU.

Guttveg, Devine, Olivier and Sidwell each finished with a pair of hits for the Eagles, while Howard hit the 39th home run of his career, reaching double-digits (10) on the season in back-to-back years.

Game 2 - ERAU 11, Lynn 4
Embry-Riddle opened the finale with a four-run first inning and cruised to their sixth-straight win over Lynn, going for 16 hits in the getaway game.

In a "you see something new at the ballpark every day" first inning for Eagle starter Samuel Brunnig, the ERAU right-hander threw five pitches, all five were put in play by the Knights, resulting in a run, but no more. A bloop single that dropped between two Eagle defenders started the game, followed by a sac bunt that was misplayed and a second sac bunt attempt that was beat out for an infield single to load the bases with no outs. Brunnig's fourth pitch of the game was a 4-6-3 double play as the visitors scored a run before a pop up on pitch number five ended the first.

ERAU quickly answered in its half of the first, starting with a Zach Howard single to left that scored Devine from third. And Habig brought in two more runs with a blooper to right-center, making it 3-1. Mike Lawson accounted for the final run of the first with a hot shot through the right side as the Eagles went up 4-1.

Lynn scored a run in the second off of Brunnig to cut the lead to 4-2, but a huge Eagle third inning put the game away early. Howard demolished a ball to straightway center for his 40th career home run with one out in the third before Sidwell doubled, Habig was hit by a pitch and Cody Forster singled in a run for a 6-2 Eagle cushion. A wild pitch made it 7-2 before Lynn was finally able to get out of the inning.

Brunnig tossed a scoreless fourth and ERAU tacked on three more runs as Sidwell and Habig each had RBI singles and an error allowed the 10th Eagle run to score.

Brunnig efficiently worked through the fifth and sixth before a two-run homer gave the visitors their third and fourth runs of the game. The Eagles scored their final run on an Olivier sac fly in the bottom of the seventh.

Daniel Agramont left a pair of runners in the eighth and Dominic Jeancola went 1-2-3 in the ninth to close things out.

Brunnig (3-0) went seven innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits with three strikeouts. Habig finished 4-for-4 with three RBIs, while Howard fell just a triple short of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs. Marsh, Sidwell and Lawson also each had multiple hits for ERAU.