DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - Joey Hecht beat the rain and beat the Embry-Riddle baseball team on Thursday afternoon at Sliwa Stadium, pitching the visiting Florida Tech Panthers to a 6-3 victory in the Sunshine State Conference series opener. The game was moved up to a 4:30 p.m. first pitch in order to beat the expected rain later in the evening, and the Eagles (18-19, 6-13 SSC) helped moved the game along swiftly, as 23 of their 33 at bats on the day went two pitches or less. The Panthers (28-14, 11-11 SSC) rode the arm of Hecht who needed just 89 pitches to get through eight frames, and scored the bulk of their runs during the middle innings.

Hecht and John Barone had a pitcher's duel going on through the first four innings, stranding runner after runner, especially Barone, but the Panthers were finally able to break through in the fifth with an unearned run to take a 1-0 lead.

Hecht went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning, throwing just five pitches, and the Panthers took a commanding 4-0 lead in the sixth when three runs came across against Barone. Casey Keller relived the Eagle starter and moved the game along to the bottom of the sixth inning.

ERAU cut its deficit in half thanks to a walk, hit by pitch and an infield error, but that's all they could muster against Hecht, two unearned runs.

A leadoff triple (the Panthers hit three three-baggers on the day) led to the fifth Panther run, and the same happened in the ninth, a leadoff triple coming around to score, making it 6-2 for the visitors.

Josh Reynolds hit a no-doubter to left to start the bottom of the ninth, his fifth homer of the year, but Andres Rodriguez retired the next three Eagles in order to secure the win for FT.

Jeremy Kennedy-Davis went 3-for-4 for ERAU, while Reynolds' long ball was the only RBI for the Eagles.

The two teams meet back up again tomorrow, Friday, April 15 at 6 p.m.