PENSACOLA, Florida - The Embry-Riddle Eagles couldn't quite complete the road series sweep of No. 21 West Florida on Sunday, falling 11-5 to the Argos. ERAU (12-13) did take the series with a twin bill victory on Saturday over UWF (14-9).
It was a pair of big innings that did the Eagles in on Sunday, with UWF scoring three in the third to take a lead, and then scoring five runs in the seventh to put distance between the two squads.
Just like the first two games of the series, the Eagles scored in the opening inning, taking a 1-0 lead when Alex Britton tripled to right center and came home on an errant relay throw. ERAU threatened for more in the inning, but left two on base.
Garner Spoljaric played spoiler in the bottom of the inning, stranding the bases-loaded after the Argos put three on with not outs. Spoljaric got two weak infield pop ups before the final out via batter's interference.
Neither team scored in the second, but the Argos struck for three runs in the third, taking a 3-1 lead and chasing Spoljaric from the game. J.C. Carrell was able to limit the damage by getting the final two outs of the frame, but the Eagles were forced to play from behind the rest of the day.
UWF added a run in the fourth and then the two teams traded solo homers in the fifth, with the Eagles' long ball coming from the bat of Max Law.
Andrew Martinez trimmed the lead to 5-3 with a solo shot of his own in the top of the fifth inning, however, the hosts got that run back in the last of the seventh off of ERAU's John Barone. Tyler Stufano entered in relief of Barone in the middle of the frame, but the Argos added another run via a bases-loaded walk, and an eighth run of the day on a bases-loaded HBP. The Argos finished their five-run seventh with a two-run double, pushing their lead to 10-3.
Kennedy-Davis hit his team-leading fourth home run of the year in the top of the eighth, and after a Zach Coldsnow single, the Eagles finally chased UWF starter Tyler Dowdy from the contest, but couldn't do any further damage in the inning.
UWF answered with a solo homer of its own in the home-half of the eighth, as Karsun Barrett and Gunnar Harrison combined to get the three outs in the frame.
Embry-Riddle started the ninth with a double from Matthew Coker and an infield single from Law, getting a run when AJ Marinello plated Coker from third with a fielder's choice. But that's all the Eagles would get, falling by an 11-5 final.
Garner Spoljaric (2-1) took the loss in 2.1 innings, while the Eagles used eight total pitchers in the game. Coldsnow finished 4-for-4, while both Kennedy-Davis and Law had two hits, an RBI, and a run scored.
Embry-Riddle returns to Sunshine State Conference play next weekend when they travel to St. Petersburg, Florida to take on Eckerd. Friday's game is slated for a 6 p.m. first pitch on March 25, with a doubleheader scheduled for 12 p.m. on Saturday, March 26.
