TAMPA, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle baseball team accomplished something on Saturday that hadn't been done since 1981, more than 15 years before any current Eagle had even been born...ERAU went to Tampa and completed a three-game sweep of the NCAA II No. 1 Spartans with a pair of victories on Saturday, 4-3 and 5-3. The Eagles (22-11, 11-4 SSC) became the first team since Toledo on March 24-26, 1981 to sweep Tampa (25-10, 11-7 SSC) in Tampa. After Friday night's 5-2 win over UT, the Blue and Gold scored late in Saturday's opener to come away with the series win and then held off a late Spartan charge in the series finale to secure the sweep.

It was also the first league sweep of Tampa since the 2015 season.

The Eagles travel to Flagler on Tuesday, April 9 for their final non-conference regular season contest of 2019. First pitch in St. Augustine is set for 6 p.m.

Game 1 - ERAU 4, UT 3
The Eagles won the series with a one-run victory in the day's opener, pushing across the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth to claim the 4-3 victory.

Both teams scored a run in the first inning, with the Eagles' tally coming on a Kyle Marsh RBI single that plated Kyle Guttveg. Guttveg led the game off with an infield single before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt from John Devine and then stealing third. UT tied things up with an unearned run off of Eagle starter Payton Rice, but Rice came back with four consecutive scoreless frames from the second through the fifth.

ERAU took the lead in the fourth when Luis Olivier doubled to left center with two outs before Cole Habig brought him home with a single back up the middle. 

The Eagles added a run in the sixth when Kirk Sidwell scored on a ground out from Habig, making it 3-1, but the Spartans answered with a pair of runs, one being unearned, to tie things again, this time at 3-3.

Both teams went quietly in the seventh and eighth as Rice and his counterpart Mason Duke exited prior to the eighth inning. 

The final inning belonged to the Eagles as Zach Howard started things off with a walk, moving to second on a sac bunt. Howard boldly stole third early in Jake Malone's at-bat, and his fellow senior gave the Eagles the lead with a grounder to second, allowing Howard to score for the 4-3 lead.

Samuel Brunnig, who pitched a perfect eighth, repeated his effort in the ninth, retiring all three Spartans he faced in the inning to seal the one-run win.

Brunnig (2-0) got the win in two innings of relief work with three strikeouts., while Rice was magnificent in seven frames, scattering eight hits and allowing just one earned run.

Marsh, Habig and Malone all collected RBIs for the Eagles as Guttveg and Olivier each had a pair of hits for the Blue and Gold.

Game 2 - ERAU 5, UT 3
Embry-Riddle jumped all over UT starter Tanner Foster in the first inning, not allowing the UT hurler to get out of the opening frame as ERAU went up 4-0 before three outs were made. 

Guttveg doubled to start things off before Devine walked and both players moved up on a wild pitch. Marsh got the scoring started with a single to left to bring in Guttveg, and Olivier plated the second run of the contest with a ground out to second. Howard didn't let Foster off the hook after he got two outs though, hitting a towering shot to left, the 36th homer of his career, to give the Eagles a 4-0 lead. Foster's replacement Jacinto Arredondo finally got out of the inning, but the damage was already done.

Garrett Goodall continued the starting pitching dominance for the Eagles as the sophomore threw up back-to-back scoreless innings in the first and second, and his only blemish came in the third when Yorvis Torrealba hit a solo homer that made it 4-1.

Arredondo and Goodall went back-and-forth with zeros on the scoreboard until the Eagles were able to chase the Spartan pitcher in the sixth thanks to an error and walk. James Reynolds entered with Olivier at third and Cole Habig at first, and when Habig stole second, the throw from the Spartan catcher went awry, allowing Olivier to touch home for a 5-1 Eagle lead.

Goodall posted another scoreless inning in the sixth, but after the Eagles batted in the seventh a lightning delay caused play to pause for more than an hour. When play resumed, Goodall was back on the mound for ERAU, getting a quick first out before a single and walk led the Eagles to go to Troy Naab. Naab came through in the high-leverage spot, striking out the first batter he faced and getting a harmless fly to right to end the threat, stranding two.

Tampa was able to score twice in the bottom of the eighth inning to make things interesting, but Dominic Jeancola struck out Luis Medina with the tying runs on base to send the game to the ninth, 5-3.

ERAU threatened for some insurance in the top of the ninth, but UT was able to get out of it unscathed and Jeancola trotted back out to try and complete one of the biggest series sweeps in program history.

Jeancola struck out the leadoff batter before a walk brought the tying run to the plate. Torrealba, who to that point in the game had gone 4-for-4, grounded into a fielder's choice for the second out before Jeancola got a fly ball to center off the bat of Cole Perry to end it.

Goodall (6-0) got the win in 6.1 innings, allowing one run on six hits with five strikeouts. Jeancola picked up his seventh save of the season in 1.2 innings.

On the weekend, the Eagle staff held one of the best offenses in the country to just eight runs on 23 hits while posting an incredible 1.67 ERA against the Spartans.

Guttveg went 3-for-5 with a run scored, while Howard finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Marsh and Olivier also picked up RBIs for the Blue and Gold.