DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - There wasn't much drama in the Embry-Riddle baseball team's 11-3 win over visiting Davenport on Wednesday evening at Sliwa Stadium. The Eagles (10-5) took a 5-0 lead in the first inning and were never threatened by the Panthers (4-7) en route to their fourth victory in five outings.
Tyler Stufano (3-0) was solid in his start, going six innings, scattering seven hits and allowing just two runs, while
Knute Rockey,
Isaiah Eberheart and
Spencer Marinac handled an inning each to close things out. The Eagle offense showed good patience at the dish, drawing nine walks (including five in the first frame), and getting timely bases-loaded hits as the Blue and Gold improved to 4-3 all-time against DU.
The Eagles nearly put the game out of reach in the first, but certainly set the tone, striking for five runs on two hits and five walks. With two outs,
Garrett Bogart drew the second walk of the game to load the bases, and
Alex Britton got the scoring starter by drawing the first of three consecutive bases-loaded walks. Josh Reynodls and
AJ Marinello followed suit, and then
Andre James greeted the new Davenport pitcher with a single up the middle that bounded off second base, allowing two more Eagles to score and pushing ERAU's lead to 5-0.
The Panthers got a run back in the second, but Britton answered with an RBI double to plate
Jeremy Kennedy-Davis in the home-half of the inning.
Stufano surrendered his only other run of the night in the fourth, a solo homer to right, but once again the Eagles responded, this time with a two-RBI single from Reynolds with the bases loaded, pushing the lead to 8-2.
Stufano faced the minimum in the fifth and sixth before the Eagles extended the advantage even further when Britton and Marinello collected some more RBIs, pushing the cushion to 11-2 before the Panthers could get out of the inning. Britton's RBI came on a single through the right side, while Marinello brought in two with a single through the left side of the infield.
Knute Rockey faced a bit of trouble in the seventh, allowing one run, but a timely double play and a strikeout with the bases loaded kept the damage at a minimm.
Eberheart worked a smooth eighth prior to Marinac doing the same in the ninth, punctuating the evening with a game-ending backwards K.
Britton was 2-for-2 with three RBIs and two runs scored, while Marinello drove in three, Reynolds drove in three, and James had two RBIs.
Timo Aracena and
Noah Clymer each finished with two hits as well.
Embry-Riddle takes a long break before heading to Tampa for a showdown with the Spartans March 10-11.