Stegall Wins 300th with Sweep of No. 20 Tigers
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The seventh-ranked Embry-Riddle Eagles escaped in one and came back in another in their season opening doubleheader against No. 20 Georgetown (Ky.) on Friday evening. The Eagles outlasted the Tigers 5-4 in the first game as
Kevin Maloney improved to 20-0 in his three-year Blue and Gold career before coming from behind to post a 2-1 victory in the day's final game. The Eagles open up 2013 at 2-0 while the Tigers fall to 0-2. The Eagles posted their seventh consecutive win in their home opener.
Game 1
Embry-Riddle scored four runs in the first and one in the second to take a 5-0 lead, but needed all five runs as the Eagles escaped with the 5-4 win after Georgetown posted two runs in the seventh and final inning before
Eric Green earned his first save of the year.
Maloney, a 2013 NAIA Preseason All-American, struck out two Tigers in the first frame, setting the table for the Eagles' offense in the bottom of the frame in which they plated four runs on just two hits.
Tyler Robbins began the inning with a hit-by-pitch, moving to second on a sacrifice bunt from
Liam Goodall.
Jeff Lemon drew a walk to put runners on first and second with just one out and
Kevin Lindheim deliverd a single to right that scored Robbins and moved Lemon to second.
After a
Kyle Chastain walk
Matt Jacobs stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. Georgetown's own preseason All-American Tyler Arthur manged to strike Jacobs out, but when the ball popped out of the catcher's glove Lemon scored from third and Lindheim and Chastain both advanced a base.
Mike Gragilla collected a clutch, two-out, two RBI single up the middle that extended the Eagle lead to 4-0 before Arthur finally got out of the frame with a groundout.
Maloney stranded a Tiger on second in the second and the Eagles tacked on another run in the bottom-half of the frame on a Lemon sacrifice fly to left, scoring
Jordan Romero from third after Romero was hit by a pitch to start the inning.
Arthur and Maloney each tossed scoreless third innings, but the Tigers finally reached the scoreboard in the top of the fourth after a triple and a grounout cut the lead to 5-1.
Georgetown added another run in the fifth on a Tanner Baldwin single that chased home TC Oneal.
Maloney got the first two outs in the sixth before giving way to redshirt freshman
Dylan Demarest who recorded the final out of the inning on a 6-3 groundout.
The Eagles were unable to add any insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth and the Tigers quickly got to Green in the top of the seventh on a leadoff single and infield error that put two runners on with no outs.
A walk loaded the bags before Green struck out Baldwin for the first out of the seventh. EJ Murray singled in a run before Green walked Ryan Serrato with the bases loaded to bring the Tigers to within one at 5-4.
Green threw three pitches to Kyle Rosen and the designated hitter struck out looking for the second out of the frame before the final Tiger batter lifted a ball down the right foul line that the first baseman Jacobs ranged over and put away to preserve the one-run win for the Blue and Gold.
The Eagles only managed three hits, one each for Lemon, Lindheim and Gragilla, while Maloney held the Tigers to one earned run over 5.2 innings and Green recorded his third career save.
Game 2
While the Eagles led for almost all the opener, they trailed for nearly the entire second contest, getting a run in the bottom of the sixth to win 2-1.
Georgetown staked their starter Matt Smith to a 1-0 lead by manufacturing a run after Murray singled to begin the contest before stealing second, moving to third on a groundout and scoring on a sac fly. Eagle starter
Chad Modomo ended the frame with his first of seven strikeouts when Serrato swung and missed and strike three.
Smith and Modomo matched each other pitch-for-pitch until the bottom of the third when Lindheim got his second RBI of the season with a double to right-center that scored
Jordan Johnson from second after the Daytona Beach native beat out an infield single before moving to second on a passed ball.
Modomo got a nifty double-play to end the fourth and went 1-2-3 in both the fifth and sixth, setting things up for Embry-Riddle to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning.
With one out, Lindheim walked before Chastain singled to left to put runners on first and second. Preseason All-American Chad Richie replaced Smith and got Gragilla to lineout on one pitch for the second out of the inning.
Adam Cellini worked a full count against Richie, and on the payoff pitch singled to second base which would have loaded the bases. However, the ball got away from the Tiger infielder and Lindheim raced home to give the Eagles their first lead of the contest, 2-1.
Modomo went out for his seventh inning of work and got a pair of groundouts and a flyout to end the game and earn his first win of 2013.
The Eagles collected six hits while Modomo only surrendered three to the Tigers.
The sweep gave Stegall his 300th career victory who now stands at 300-124-2 in eight seasons as a head coach, including six at Embry-Riddle.
The Eagles will take on Webber International in a non-conference game tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. before wrapping up their series with Georgetown at 12:30 p.m.