DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The NAIA No. 6 Embry-Riddle baseball team remained perfect on the young season with two wins over Sun Conference opponent Warner on Saturday, 7-6 and 4-0. The twin bill's first contest went 15 innings, an ERAU single-game record, but the hosts were able to pull out a 7-6 walk-off win before giving the ball to senior Tucker Jensen for game two where he one-hit the Royals in a 4-0 victory. With the wins, Embry-Riddle moves to 6-0 overall and a perfect 3-0 in conference play, while Warner falls to 3-4 and 0-3.
Game One
The Eagles and Royals played almost two complete games during the first contest of the day, taking 15 innings to finally decide a winner. Sophomore Kevin Maloney took the hill for the Eagles and looked to be in control for the first seven innings. Maloney gave up just one run during his first six frames of work, working fast against the Royal hitters.
The Eagles took a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, beginning with a Steve Sabins single through the left side of the infield. Sabins moved to second on a passed ball by WU catcher Herb Sickler, then moves to third after Chris Page walked and Ben Kline reached first on an error by Warner starter Brett Stanton to load the bags. Jeff Lemon got the first Eagle RBI of the game when he drew a walk in the next at-bat to drive in Sabins from third and knot the score at 1-1. Greg Smith cleared the bases with a one-out double to left center, making the score 4-1 in favor of the Blue and Gold.
ERAU would add a fifth run in the sixth inning off the bat of Aaron Glaum; he doubled home Lemon from second base, but was called out at third trying to stretch the double into a triple.
Warner would prove to be resilient and tie the game in the eighth inning with four runs of their own. Maloney began the inning by getting first baseman Austin Britt to fly out to left field, but would allow two singles in the next to at-bats before being replaced by Steve Ortman. Ortman walked one to load the bases, then came through with a big strike out for the second out of the inning. However, Justin Zanella would club a two-out single up the middle to score two runs and bring the score to 5-3.
Phillip Reamy made his second appearance of the year in the eighth with two outs, but the pre-season All-American gave up a two-run single to Sickler before striking out Bryan Langston to end the threat.
The Eagles answered in the home half of the eighth inning when Smith picked up his fourth RBI of the game on a sac fly to the center fielder that scored Kline from third.
The 6-5 lead would not stand up for ERAU, as WU would again tie the score at six runs apiece in the ninth.
Neither team would score another run in the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th or 14th innings as relievers Gary Kott (WU), Dylan Heiring (WU) and Brandon Creath (ERAU) would shut down the opposing offenses.
Creath was especially impressive, not allowing a run or hit in six innings of work while striking out four Royal batters.
It was the home team who would find a way to pull out a victory in the 15th inning. Adam Cellini led off the frame by wearing a Corey Pawlak pitch before his courtesy runner, David Belardes, advanced to second on a wild pitch. Smith moved Belardes to third with a sac bunt and Glaum ended the game with a one-out double over the left fielder's head to score the runner from third.
The Eagles outhit the Royals, 10-6 in the game, as both teams commited a pair of errors.
Creath earned the win for ERAU, moving to 1-0 with the victory. Pawlak was tagged with the loss for Warner and fell to 0-1 overall.
Smith had four RBIs in game one, finishing 1-for-5. Glaum, Page and Sabins all had two hits in the four-hour game.
The 15-inning affair broke the previous Embry-Riddle record of 14 innings set in 1995 against Brewton-Parker and duplicated last season against Florida Memorial in The Sun Conference tournament.
Game Two
Game two proved to be the complete opposite of the first contest of the day, as Jensen tossed the best game of his Embry-Riddle career, grounded the Royals' offense en route to the 4-0 complete game victory.
Jensen pitched the entire nine innings, giving up just one hit and one base-on-balls, while fanning eight batters on just 97 pitches. The lone hit for the Royals came in the third inning when Ryan Paul singled through the right side of the infield.
Jensen's eight strikeouts set a career-high mark for the right-hander from Ormond Beach, Fla., and was just one less than the season-high strikeout mark set by Ryan Vigue on Friday evening.
ERAU scored a run in the first, third, fourth and sixth innings to claim the 4-0 decision, striking for 10 hits against Warner's Ryan Ruble and Jake Petitt.
J.T. Warmoth crossed home in the first inning thanks to a two-out single from Kline. Warmoth again scored in the third frame, touching home on a Sabins double to left center.
Jordan Romero scored the lone Eagle run in the fourth inning when Smith hit a sac fly to center field to bring home Cellini's courtesy runner from third base.
Embry-Riddle's final run of the night came in the sixth when Smith scored on a throwing error by the Warner catcher, the errant throw to second base ended up in the outfield and allowed the junior account for the fourth run of the game.
Ruble was credited with the loss, falling to 0-1 overall.
Sabins was 3-for-4 in the contest, driving in one run, Smith and Kline accounted for the other two RBIs.
For the series, ERAU scored 20 runs on 31 hits with 19 RBIs; the Eagles were alos 7-for-8 in steal attempts. Blue and Gold pitchers gave up just six runs in three games, all in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. The pitching staff combined for a 1.64 ERA in 33.0 innings of work, giving up 10 hits and 10 walks with 28 strikeouts.
ERAU travels to Mount Vernon, Ga. on Monday for a three-game series against NAIA No. 24 Brewton-Parker. A single game on Monday is set to start at 4 p.m. while a DH is set to begin at 12 p.m. on Tuesday.