SAINT LEO, Fla. – The UWF baseball team was unable to keep No. 20 Embry-Riddle off the basepaths on Friday, dropping a winner's bracket game in the NCAA South Regional, 11-5.
Seventh-seeded UWF (33-22) will face sixth-seeded Delta State in an elimination game on Saturday at 2 p.m. EDT at Thomas B. Southard Stadium. The winner will face ERAU at 6 p.m. and need to defeat the Eagles twice to advance to the NCAA Super Regional. Regional host and second-seeded Saint Leo was eliminated earlier on Friday.
UWF managed nine hits to go with four walks and a hit batter but ended up leaving seven men on base.
"We didn't play our best baseball and I thought we made some critical errors early in the game," UWF head coach
Mike Jeffcoat said. "It just didn't fall our way and everything kind of went in Embry-Riddle's favor. It was just one of those days."
The Argonauts got out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of back-to-back doubles by
Jadon Fryman and
Cade Easterbrook in the bottom of the first inning.
After the Eagles got a solo home run in the second, UWF appeared ready for more in the third but
Darrien McDowell was called out at home trying to score from first on an Easterbrook double.
ERAU rode the momentum of the strong defensive play to score two in the fourth, benefitting from two UWF errors, and two in the fifth to grab a 5-2 lead. The Eagles broke the game open with a 6-run inning in the seventh, extending the margin to 11-2.
The Argos put together a rally in the ninth, as they loaded the bases leading to a McDowell triple to cut into the 9-run deficit. But that was as close as they would get, falling 11-5.
McDowell went 3-for-4 with three RBI, a walk and was hit by a pitch. He has seven hits and reached base nine times in 11 plate appearances in the regional.
Easterbrook also had a multi-hit game with a pair of doubles.
Kade Mandersheid (8-4) worked six innings and allowed five runs on nine hits as he suffered his first loss in his last three starts.
ERAU (33-19) finished with 16 hits and ended with 12 runners left on. The top five batters combined for 11 hits and seven RBI. Keagan Perez (2-2) earned the win with five innings on the mound, allowing the two runs in the first while striking out five.
