SAINT LEO, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle baseball team responded in a big way on Saturday after dropping Friday's series opener to Saint Leo. The Eagles (10-3, 2-1 SSC) beat the Lions (2-10, 1-2 SSC) twice, 13-5 and 13-2 to secure the series win over SLU to start SSC play.

Embry-Riddle returns to Daytona Beach to host Nova Southeastern next weekend for a three-game SSC series. First pitch for Friday's single game is set for 6 p.m. at Sliwa Stadium.

Game 1 – ERAU 13, SLU 5
The Eagles turned a pitcher's duel into a blowout in the day's opener, getting a quality start from Payton Rice and big games at the dish from John Devine and Josh Reynolds to even the weekend series.
 
Rice and Mccabe Sargent traded zeroes in the first, second, and third with the Eagles threatening several times to take an early lead, but Sargent was able to escape unscathed.
 
After Rice got three easy ground balls to end the third, the Eagles finally broke through in the top of the fourth. Luis Olivier started things off with a single to left, moving to second when Andrew Martinez singled. A walk from Eric Feliz loaded the bases and Robert Post got the Eagles on the board with a sac fly to left center. Devine collected a bunt single and when the throw from Sargent was off line, the Eagles went up 2-0. Reynolds delivered the big blow in the frame, a two-run double in the next at-bat to put ERAU up 4-0.
 
Rice went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the fourth, and the visitors added a run in the sixth when Post scored with the bases loaded on a ground out.
 
The Lions finally broke up Rice's no-hit bid in the sixth, scoring twice to trim the Eagle lead to 5-2, but Rice got the final two outs of the inning to keep ERAU in front by three.
 
The Blue and Gold scored its sixth run in the seventh, when a wild pitch allowed Mike Lawson to scamper home, but the Lions answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the seventh, forcing the Eagles to go to Joe Balsam with a man on and no outs, and the freshman had no issues moving the game to the eighth with ERAU in front, 6-3.
 
Another wild pitch in the eighth pushed Devine across the plate and Balsam worked around a two-out single in the last of the inning as ERAU took a 7-3 lead to the ninth.
 
The Eagles ended any comeback hopes by the Lions by scoring six runs on four hits and a Saint Leo error in the top of the ninth. Post, Devine, Forster and Lawson all collected RBIs in the frame, with Devine and Lawson grabbing two each.
 
Tyler Stufano pitched the ninth, surrendering a two-run homer, but the Eagle lead was plenty enough as they took the game, 13-5.
 
Rice (2-0) pitched six innings, allowing three runs on five hits with six Ks, while Balsam tossed two scoreless frames and Stufano managed the ninth.
 
Both Devine and Reynolds finished with four hits and two RBIs, with Devine scoring three runs and Reynolds touching home once. Post had a pair of RBIs, and Lawson finished with two hits and two runs batted in.
 
Game 2 – ERAU 13, SLU 2
The Blue and Gold secured the series win with another dominant offensive performance in the day's finale, using its second big ninth inning on the day to make it a blowout.
 
Martinez had a monster day at the dish, finishing just a double short of the cycle while driving in six RBIs and scoring four runs for the Eagles.
 
Like the day's first game, neither team could score in the opening frame as Kelsey Ward took the ball for ERAU. The Eagles gave the freshman an early lead with a run in the second when a throwing error allowed Martinez to score from second after he had singled and stole second base. Post's ground ball resulted in a poor throw by SLU's starter Jestin Jones.
 
Ward worked around a leadoff walk to strand a Lion in scoring position in the second before Martinez hit a three-run home run, his first as an Eagle, down the right field line to put the Eagles up 4-0. 
 
Again Ward shrugged off a leadoff walk in the bottom of the third inning, and didn't allow a hit until the fifth; but by then the Eagles had taken a 6-0 lead when Post singled with the bases loaded, scoring Martinez and Lawson. 
 
The two teams each scored a run in the sixth, with Dillon Moran relieving Ward to send the game to the final third with the Eagles up 7-2.
 
An unearned Eagle run in the eighth pushed the lead to 8-2, and after Balsam, who had entered in the seventh, worked a scoreless frame in the eighth, the Eagles exploded for five runs in the ninth, three coming off a Martinez bases-clearing triple.
 
Samuel Brunnig threw a perfect ninth for the Blue and Gold.
 
Ward (2-1) got the win with five innings of work, allowing two runs on one hit with five strikeouts. Moran, Balsam and Brunnig combined to toss the final four innings without allowing a run or hit.
 
Four Eagles had multiple hits, led by Martinez's 4-for-6 effort. Post finished with two RBIs on two hits, while Feliz and Forster also collected a pair of base knocks. Lawson scored three runs for the Eagles.
 
Notes
• The Eagles finished with 29 hits on Saturday, including five doubles, a triple and a home run
• Martinez's six RBIs are the third-highest individual single-game total in program history. Both Guttveg and Olivier had six RBIs against Eckerd on April 14, 2018.
• Balsam tossed 4.0 scoreless innings on Saturday; holding SLU to just one hit with three strikeouts
• The series win is the first for ERAU over Saint Leo since joining the SSC
• It is also the earliest the Eagles have won their first SSC game and series of the season
• ERAU has double-digit hits in nine of its 13 games thus far