DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Facing its toughest test of the season to date, the Embry-Riddle baseball team fought, but ultimately fell to, No. 1 Tampa, 11-4, Friday night at Sliwa Stadium. The Eagles (13-7, 2-2 SSC) had their five-game win streak halted thanks to the high-octane Spartans (21-1, 4-0 SSC).
 
The evening started as well as it possibly could have, thanks to Dillon Moran on the hill. The reigning SSC Pitcher of the Week held the nation's best offense to no runs through four innings.
 
ERAU held a 1-0 lead for the full four innings after scoring in the bottom of the first. Leadoff man Matthew Coker singled up the middle in the first at-bat of the game for the Eagles, then Chase Bruno slammed one to right, moving Coker up two bags, but was caught at second on a nice throw from Mike Valdez in right. Tyler Castelli picked Bruno up though, doubling two batters later. Castelli ripped one off the first base bag and hustled to second while Coker scored to make it 1-0.
 
Moran worked very effectively early on. Through the first four innings, he yielded just three hits against five strikeouts. But Tampa wouldn't go quietly, adding four runs in the fifth. A leadoff home run, followed by a single, double and two-run home run quickly made it 4-1 in favor of the visitors.
 
The Eagles had runners on the corners with just one out in the bottom of the fifth, but two consecutive pop ups gave way to zero runs. Then UT used another flurry of runs to extend the lead to 8-1 in the top of the sixth. The Spartans used three walks and two base knocks split between Moran and reliever Trevor Nolan to go up big.
 
UT threatened again in the seventh, but a great throw from Coker in right to backstop Jeremy Kennedy-Davis caught a runner trying for home to end the inning. Both sides then went quietly through the seventh and eighth, which also featured a nice double play for the Eagles, then ERAU made it a contest.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, the Eagles quickly got three back on the Spartans. After Camden Traficante drew a two-out walk, Castelli singled through the left side of the infield to put two runners on. Drew Clymer then worked a walk to load the bases. Nate Selmont – who came in as a defensive replacement at third base an inning prior and made a great foul-ball snag reaching over the dugout railing in the seventh – dropped a single into shallow center field, scoring both Castelli and Traficante. Dillon Lifrieri then singled through the left side, scoring a hustling Clymer from second base, but then Selmont got tagged overrunning second base to end the inning with the Eagles down just 8-4.
 
But UT reeled off three runs in the top half of the ninth, and got the Eagles to go down in 1-2-3 order in the home half to secure the series-opening win, 11-4.

The two squads will do battle on Saturday in a twin bill starting at 1 p.m.