SAINT LEO, Florida - The Embry-Riddle Eagles dropped a Saturday doubleheader against No. 14 Saint Leo, 5-3 and 3-0. The Eagles (20-23, 8-16 SSC), were swept by the Lions (30-14, 15-9 SSC) in the weekend series.
Embry-Riddle will return to Sliwa Stadium to host Florida Southern next weekend, beginning with a 6 p.m. game on Friday, April 29.
Game 1 - SLU 5, ERAU 3
The Lions secured the series with a 5-3 win in Saturday's opener. For the second straight game the Lions mounted a late-inning rally to post a come-from-behind victory. The Eagles out-hit the Lions 10-6, and reached base at a higher clip than Saint Leo, but the visitors stranded 10 men on the bases, while the Lions left just two, scoring the games' final five runs to emerge with the win.
Kelsey Ward was dominant for the Blue and Gold through four, not allowing a hit until the fifth, and his offense staked him to a 3-0 lead with a three-run third inning.
Andrew Martinez got the inning started with a leadoff single, scoring a few batters later when Josh Reynolds singled him home. Garrett Bogart hen followed with a long ball, scoring Reynolds and himself for a 3-0 ERAU lead.
The lead stood until the fifth when the Lions strung together three straight hits to score one run, and then Buck Anderson, who hit the game-tying three-run homer in Friday's contest, came through with a two-run single as the home team was finally able to get to Ward.
The Eagles had an opportunity to respond in the sixth, but they left two runners in scoring position. The Lions, on the other hand, were able to sneak across two runs in the seventh, taking a 5-3 lead to the last two innings.
The Eagles got one baserunner in each of the eighth and ninth innings, but couldn't move them further than second, ultimately falling by the 5-3 final score.
Martinez, Reynolds, and Kevin Vittoria each had two hits for the Eagles. Ward (L, 3-5) took the loss, throwing all eight defensive innings for ERAU, striking out eight batters.
Game 2 - SLU 3, ERAU 0
In the series finale, the Eagle offense was held scoreless for the fifth time in 2022, the most in a season since 2014 (7). ERAU managed just four hits in the game, three coming in the third inning, but the visitors ran into two outs on the bases during the frame and came up empty.
The Lions scored a lone run in the bottom of the third against ERAU starter John Barone, and then added two more in the fourth, not needing any more as the Lions' Daniel Fregio kept the Eagle offense off balance for the remainder of the day.
Fregio went the distance, tossing a complete game shutout to finalize Saint Leo's sweep of the Eagles.
Barone (L, 2-2) threw six innings, allowing three runs with four Ks. Casey Keller tossed the final two innings without allowing a baserunner and registering two strikeouts.
