DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – On Wednesday in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round, the top-seeded Southern Polytechnic State University baseball club lost to the No. 2-seeded Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Fla.) Eagles, 10-2, at Sliwa Stadium. Southern Polytechnic, ranked ninth nationally in the NAIA, plays No. 15-rated Embry-Riddle again on Thursday at 10 a.m. with a trip to the World Series on the line.
ERAU is the NAIA national tournament first-round host at the Daytona Beach Bracket. The opening rounds are scheduled from May 12 through May 15 at nine fields across the country. Each site features a five-team, double-elimination tournament with the winners joining host Lewis-Clark State College at the 58th annual Avista-NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, from May 23-30.
The Eagles tallied a pair of runs in the first inning on Wednesday before adding a single run in each of the third and fifth for a 4-0 lead. Southern Poly got a run back in the sixth inning but ERAU took control by scoring five times in the home half, moving ahead 9-1. Embry-Riddle tacked on another run in the eighth inning before the Hornets scored once in the ninth.
SPSU was outhit by a 9-2 margin with the Eagles collecting 25 total bases that included four home runs and two triples. ERAU made four errors while Southern Poly played error-free defensively. Embry-Riddle stranded seven base runners and the Hornets four.
At the plate for SPSU, Darius Reese ended 1-for-3 with a walk while Matt Miller also picked up a hit in three at-bats. Dalton Martinez delivered a sacrifice fly, driving in one run and scoring another while Chad Livingston also had an RBI with a sacrifice fly.
Forrest Garrett was the first of six Southern Poly pitchers and suffered the loss after allowing two hits over three innings. Blake Barrow threw one no-hit, scoreless inning with a strikeout before giving way to freshman Michael Maiocco, who also went one inning, striking out one with no walks. Alex Ridge gave up one hit with a strikeout and no bases on balls in two innings of work while Reese Patten struck out one when pitching the final inning.
The Hornets slip to 44-17 overall while the Eagles are 40-20. On Thursday morning, SPSU will be looking to make its third appearance at the NAIA World Series after qualifying in both 1986 and 2009.
