May 14, 2008

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Senior Kyle Albright became the Embry-Riddle (Fla.) Eagles sole record holder for home runs in a season on Wednesday (May 14) evening as he hit a two-run home run over the left-center field fence, that aided the Eagles in tying the game 5-5 midway through the sixth. But, the Eagles could not hold on as the Lee (Tenn.) Flames answered back winning 9-5 in the first game of the NAIA Atlantic South Super Regional.

Senior Jordan Roberts started the game for the Eagles, picking up his fourth no-decision of the season. He gave up two runs in the first inning, leaving after five complete and the Eagles trailing 5-0. The Flames scored five runs off of nine hits before Roberts left the game proving that they were a hard-hitting team.

They came into the game hitting .363 overall.

"Lee is a very good post-season team," head coach Randy Stegall said after the game, "they came in with more experience in these situations and you could tell our guys were a bit nervous."

The Flame's starting pitcher, Dallas Sims faced nine batters in the first three innings, allowing no base runners for the Eagles. The road to a perfect game came to an end in the fourth inning as Matt Steele led the inning off with a single but the Eagles offense could not produce anything else as they remained scoreless after four. This was the first game since March 25 (23 games) that the Eagles were held scoreless through four innings.

The Eagles put their first man in scoring position in the fifth inning as Albright led the inning off with a single into left field and was moved up by an Eric Ogden single up the middle. Albright advanced home on an error made by the third baseman to score the Eagles first run.

Embry-Riddle battled back to tie the game in the sixth inning as Aaron Tea hit a one-out double into the right center gap and would cross home plate on smart base running on a Colin Gray single into left field. Albright hit his 12th home run just seconds later to put the Eagles within one. Albright was 2-for-4 on the night with two runs and two RBI, breaking Brent McMurtrie's season home-run record of 11 that has stood for eight years. Alex Guzman tallied the game-tying run after hitting a single, advancing on his 13th stolen base of the year and scoring on a Branden Roper-Hubbert single up the middle.

The Flames answered back in the top of the seventh as Kevin Wyman and Chris Dubon scored on a deep triple to left-center by Ryan Stovall. Stovall was knocked in on a sacrifice fly by Edgar Mercado to put the Flames up by three. Lee added another insurance run in the eighth inning, giving the Eagles their first loss at Sliwa Stadium since March 17 and their first loss to an NAIA team in 20 contests.

Robbie Flynn tallied the loss for the Eagles, moving his overall record to 1-2. He pitched one complete inning giving up two runs on two hits. Phillip Reamy and Tucker Jensen also made their Super Regional debuts, pitching two and one innings respectively.

This was the first super regional game for all but two Eagles. Chris Maloney is the only Eagle to have played in the 2006 Super-Regional while Branden Roper-Hubbert watched from the stands as a redshirt in the same season.

"We didn't really know what to expect out of this game," Stegall said, "we will just have to come out more determined tomorrow and stretch this series into Friday."

The Blue and Gold will suit up again tomorrow for the second game of the best-of-three series against Lee. The first pitch will be thrown at 7 p.m. at Sliwa Stadium. If necessary, the third game is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m.