SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Embry-Riddle baseball team won two very different games on Saturday as the Eagles (7-2) completed the weekend sweep of Savannah State (1-7) with a 6-3 win in Saturday's opener and a 10-0 seven-inning shutout in the finale.

The Eagles will host Flagler on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. at Sliwa Stadium.

Game 1 - ERAU 6, SSU 3
The day's opener came down to the final inning with the Eagle offense held in check most of the afternoon. However, the visitors doubled their run total thanks to a three-run ninth, loading the bases in front of the heart of their order and the Eagle hitters delivered before Joe Balsam shut the Tigers down in the bottom of the ninth to secure the series win.

Saturday began with two quick Eagle runs and it appeared as if the Blue and Gold would run away with the game. Kyle Guttveg walked and then scored when Mike Lawson doubled to center. After Lawson moved to third on a Luis Olivier single, he touched home when Andrew Martinez grounded out, giving the Eagles a 2-0 lead.

Payton Rice face the minimum in the home first, and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, striking out the side.

The Tigers got their first runs of the series (and they would prove to be their only runs of the series) in the third. A leadoff single followed by a walk set up a first and second situation for SSU, the Tigers took advantage of an Eagle error to score a run and then an infield hit tied the game at 2-2. A double play ball allowed the final Tiger run to score for a 3-2 SSU lead.

ERAU couldn't scratch another run across until the sixth when Martinez started the frame with a double, and moved to third on a wild pitch. John Devine brought him home with his own double to center, but Devine was stranded on the bases to end the threat and keep the game tied.

Rice, who recovered quickly from his rough third, battled throughout his outing, keeping the game knotted before Balsam relived him to start the bottom of the seventh and went 1-2-3 to send the game to the eighth.

ERAU finally got things going again in the top of the ninth when Cody Forster singled to right to start things off. A sacrifice bunt moved Forster to second before Robert Post was hit by a pitch and Guttveg reached on an error to load the bases in front of Lawson. An RBI walk from the Eagle second baseman pushed ERAU in front, followed by a RBI HBP by Luis Olivier. A fielder's choice pushed across the final Eagle tally of the inning as the visitors led 6-3.

Balsam (1-0) worked quickly in the last of the ninth, inducing a pair of ground balls and a harmless fly ball to left to earn his first win of the season.

Rice finished with six innings of work, allowing three unearned runs on nine hits while striking out six Tiger hitters.

Lawson was the only Eagle with multiple hits, finishing 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Guttveg scored twice, while both Olivier and Devine collected an RBI for the Blue and Gold.

Game 2 - ERAU 10, SSU 0 (7 inn.)
The day's and series final game was dominated by the Eagles as they got out to an early lead and then added on a ton of runs late while freshman Kelsey Ward had the best outing of his young collegiate career, working a seven-inning, complete game shutout.

Neither team scored in the first, but Post plated Martinez from second in the second with a base knock to right after Martinez had singled and then moved to second on a wild pitch. Forster brought in Post from third later in the inning with a sac fly to make it 2-0 Eagles.

Ward breezed through the second and then left a man on third in the third to send the game to the fourth with his team up 2-0.

Both teams again went scoreless in the fourth, but the fifth was a different story for the Eagles. Three hits and two Tiger errors resuled in five ERAU runs with Lawson and Devine picking up RBIs and two wild pitches allowed runs to score as the Eagles enjoyed a 7-0 lead.

Ward delivered a shutdown inning in the bottom of the fifth and the Eagles added on two more runs in the sixth on an Olivier double to score Jake Mottice and a Martinez single to plate Olivier.

The final Eagle run came in the seventh when Daniel Trillo was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Joe Lucas for the 10-0 advantage.

Ward struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh and that ended it as the Eagles got their second shutout in as many days.

Ward (1-1) allowed only three hits and fanned 10 SSU batters for his first collegiate win.

Martinez finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs; Olivier had two hits with an RBI and two runs scored and Post went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Notes
• ERAU improved to 6-0 all-time against Savannah State
• Embry-Riddle has two shutouts already in 2020, just one behind the 2019 pitching staff
• Lawson (20) and Martinez (19) rank first and second in the SSC in hits
• Guttveg is just the 10th Eagle ever to reach 60 stolen bases in a career
• Guttveg also broke into top-10 in career walks (73)