ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - After honoring their 15 seniors, the Eckerd baseball team dropped its final doubleheader of the season at the Turley Athletic Complex 13-3, 8-6 to Embry-Riddle (Fla.) on Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles opened the day on a three-run homerun for an early 3-0 lead in the first. They grew their lead to 4-0 in the second with an RBI double down the left line. Reid Lisle closed the gap in the bottom of the second with a two-run double to shorten the deficit to 4-2. The Eagles added four runs over two innings to increase their favor to 8-2. An RBI double by Kyle Ericson in the fifth gave Eckerd its last run of the game before the Eagles added five more runs to seal the 13-3 victory.
Once again, the Eagles struck first in the first on a single through the left side gap of the second game. Joe Wike equalized in the next inning with an RBI single up the middle to make it 1-1. The Tritons surged into the lead in the third, when Darius Bradley hit a sacrifice fly to score Jake Fajardo followed by Brazer's two-RBI single to left field, propelling Eckerd to a 4-1 advantage.
Embry-Riddle refused to go quietly, mounting a dramatic comeback in the late innings. In the seventh, Castelli added a second homerun of the day with a solo shot to right field, narrowing the gap to 4-2. Eckerd tacked on another run in the seventh courtesy of Christian Perez's RBI single, extending the lead to 5-2.
However, the Eagles rallied in the eighth inning, with Castelli drawing a bases-loaded walk followed by Lifrieri's two-RBI single to tie the game at 5-5. Coker then laid down a squeeze bunt to bring home Castelli, giving Embry-Riddle a 6-5 lead heading into the final frame.
In the ninth, Embry-Riddle added insurance runs as Brazil's RBI single plated two more, pushing their lead to 8-5. Trailing by three, Eckerd attempted a comeback of its own in the ninth, with Alex Brazer driving in Lisle with a single to make it 8-6. The Eagles closed the game without any further damage to take the finale 8-6.
HOW IT ENDED
Game One
FINAL: Embry-Riddle 13, Eckerd 3
WP: Donay (1-1) LP: Ramos (2-10) S: Perez (1) HR: Traficante (5), Castelli (3), Marinello (4)
Game Two
FINAL: Embry-Riddle 8, Eckerd 6
WP: Meyer (8-2) LP: Grubbs (9-2) S: Balsam (2) HR: Castelli (4)
RECORDS: Eckerd 17-29 (5-22 SSC); Embry-Riddle 30-17 (16-11 SSC)
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Gavin Grubbs led Eckerd's pitchers with three strikeouts on the day.
- Lisle hit 3-for-4 in the finale. Tyler Cox and Brazer also put up multi-hit performances in the outing with two apiece.
- Brazer led with four RBI's in the series, three coming in the finale.
- Wike and Ericson hit 2-for-4 in the day's opener
- Eckerd honored its 15 seniors prior to the game: Austin Kapela, Kyle Abbott, Cam Collier, Gavin Grubbs, Darius Bradley, Wil Stockman, Kyle Ericson, Tucker Shalley, Ben Waxler, Tyler Cox, Tyler Young, Rene Ramos, Jake Fajardo, Peter Stavrakos, and Joe Wike.
UP NEXT
The Tritons play their final series of the season at Nova Southeastern on Friday at 6:00 PM.
