DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - The Embry-Riddle baseball team stretched its home winning streak to five straight on Friday at Sliwa Stadium, taking both games of a twin bill against Bridgeport, 4-0, and 4-2. The Eagles (5-11), used solid pitching, and stellar defense to send Bridgeport (3-5) to its third and fourth straight losses.
The two teams will meet again tomorrow, Saturday, March 5 for the series finale at 2 p.m.
Game 1 - ERAU 4, UB 0
Garrett Goodall and
Tyler Stufano combined on a five-hit shutout in the day's opener, as the Eagles took advantage of some Purple Knight errors and later added a few insurance runs to take the 4-0 decision.
Goodal (1-2) was superb, going five strong, scattering just four hits with three strikeouts, stranding eight Bridgeport runners before Stufano handled the final two frames, facing the minimum number of batters to earn his first career save.
Goodall got out of a jam in the second with the bases loaded, inducing a weak ground ball that was easily put away to retire the side, and the Eagles took the lead in the bottom of the inning when a dropped fly ball in left allowed
Max Law to scamper home for an early 1-0 advantage.
Goodall left two more runners on base in the third, and the Eagles doubled their lead when a bad throw from the Bridgeport shortstop allowed
Alex Britton to cross the plate and make it 2-0.
The Purple Knights were again left scoreless in the top of the fifth as Goodall stranded his final two runners, and the Eagles added their first insurance run when
Robert Post singled in
Daniel Trillo from second.
Stufano went 1-2-3 in the sixth and Trillo completed his good game with an RBI hit to right, scoring
Matthew Coker and pushing the cushion to 4-0.
Jeremy Kennedy-Davis accounted for the final out of the game when he threw out the UB center fielder trying to steal third to seal the win.
Trillo finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run, while Post,
Zach Coldsnow,
Kevin Vittoria, and Coker all collected base hits.
Game 2 - ERAU 4, UB 2
The Eagles got another solid pitching performance from their arms, this time
J.C. Carrell and
Casey Keller went the seven innings needed, with Keller (1-2) picking up his first win of the season.
The Eagles got the three runs they needed in the bottom of the first as Jason Burger struggled to start the game for UB. Trillo got things going with a leadoff single, and after a walk to Kennedy-Davis and a single from Post, Trillo was able to score the first run of the contest. Coldsnow collected a sac fly to deep center before
Garrett Bogart singled to left, bringing in Post for a 3-0 ERAU lead.
Carrell breezed through the first three innings, but the Knights finally got on the scoreboard for the first time on the day with two runs in the fourth. Keller was called on with the two on and one outs, and preserved the one-run lead by getting a 4-6-3 double play to send the Eagles back into the dugout.
Embry-Riddle tacked on an insurance run in the fifth when Kennedy-Davis registered a sacrifice fly to plate Coker, and Keller recorded three strikeouts over the final two innings, facing just six batters as ERAU won its fourth straight.
Keller did not allow a hit over the final 3.2 innings, striking out five batters, and finishing with just 33 thrown pitches. Trillo and Bogart each finished with two hits.
