DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - The Embry-Riddle baseball team got two much-needed wins on Saturday at Sliwa Stadium, taking the weekend series from Lynn with a 5-1 and 6-3 twin bill sweep. The Eagles (15-15) improved to 5-10 in Sunshine State Conference play, while the Fighting Knights (13-17-1) fell to 4-11 in SSC action. Both games featured strong pitching from Eagle starters Dillon Moran and Tyler Stufano, while the ERAU offense scored in half of their 16 offensive innings on the day.

The Eagles travel to St. Augustine on Tuesday for a non-conference matchup with Flagler. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.

Game 1 • ERAU 5, Lynn 1
Moran (3-3) took the ball for the Eagles and dealt, twirling seven innings of one-run baseball against Lynn while winning the pitching duel with Drew Dwyer. Spencer Marinac claimed his first save of the season by getting the final six outs as he and Moran combined for 11 strikeouts in the game.

Moran worked around a two-out double in the first to send the game to the bottom of the inning without a score, and his team gave him an early lead when Timo Aracena grounded out to second, allowing Camden Traficante to score from third after he doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch.

After the first, both Dwyer and Moran settled in nicely, fanning batter after batter while also getting some nice glove work from their defenses.

Lynn knotted things in the fifth when Ryan Ford homered to right, a no-doubter that was the only run allowed by Moran the entire game.

ERAU didn't wait long to go back in front, doing so in the bottom of the inning as Traficante singled up the middle, plating Kevin Vittoria. Vittoria was hit by a pitch before swiping second and moving to third on a ground out.

Moran did his best work in the sixth and seventh, shrugging off a leadoff double in the sixth by getting two fly outs and a strike out before stranding two runners on the bases in the seventh with a pop up to shallow right. In-between those frames the Eagles added to their lead when Garrett Bogart tripled to start the home-sixth, later scoring on an AJ Marinello single back up the middle.

Marinac relieved Moran to start the eighth, getting out of trouble in the inning when the visitors ran into an out on the bases with two on and two outs. A single to right-center would have loaded the bags, but a baserunning blunder allowed the Eagles to get a tag out at home with a 3-1 lead.

Embry-Riddle got two big insurance runs in the last of the eighth as Alex Britton and Vittoria earned back-to-back bases-loaded RBIs, one via a hit by pitch, and the other via a walk.

Marinac needed just 11 pitches to get three outs in the ninth and secure the 5-1 win. Moran tied a career-high with nine strikeouts in the victory, while Marinello finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and run.

Game 2 • ERAU 6, Lynn 3
Stufano was just as dominant in the second game as Moran was in the first, tossing eight innings, allowing just two earned runs on six hits with four Ks before Joe Balsam earned his 16th career save with an easy ninth. The victory came after Lynn scored the first run of the contest in the second, marking just the second time this season the Eagles won a game after an opponent scored first.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the second, the Eagles scored twice to take the lead and Stufano never gave it back. Josh Reynolds singled to start the second, stealing second then moving to third on a deep fly ball to right. Zach Coldsnow brought him in with a ground out, but that wasn't all for the home team as they put together a two-out rally, starting with a Britton single. A wild pitch moved Britton to second and Vittoria scored him with a single down the right field line for a 2-1 lead.

Stufano went 1-2-3 in the third and fourth and the Eagles tripled their lead in the bottom of the fourth, starting when Reynolds scampered home on a wild pitch after singling to left, followed by a Coldsnow base hit up the middle. A fielding error allowed Coldsnow to later score as ERAU enjoyed a 4-1 cushion.

For the third straight inning Stufano faced the minimum in the fifth, but Lynn did get a run in the sixth on a fielding error by the Eagles. 

Bogart played the fifth ERAU run of the contest with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, allowing Vittoria to touch home, giving the hosts a 5-2 advantage.

Stufano surrendered a solo home run in the eighth, but the Eagles got the run right back when Britton singled through the infield to score pinch runner Dylan Brazil after a Coldsnow double.

Balsam cruised in the ninth, striking out two Knights en route to his SSC-leading fourth save of the 2023 season.

Reynolds, Coldsnow, Britton, and Vittoria all had two hits for the Eagles in the win.