Rio baseball falls in regional title game
Rio Grande Sports Information
DAYTONA Beach, Fla. - Second-seeded Embry Riddle made a pair of early runs and a solid pitching performance by Tyler Cyr stand up as the Eagles held off fifth-seeded University of Rio Grande for a 2-1 win in the championship first final of the NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round's Daytona Beach Bracket, Thursday night, at Sliwa Stadium.
Embry-Riddle, ranked No. 16 in the latest NAIA coaches poll, improved to 39-17 with the win - its second in as many tries against Rio Grande in the tourney - and punched its ticket to the NAIA World Series, which begins May 22 in Lewiston, Idaho.
Rio Grande, which was seeded fifth in the five-team, double-elimination bracket, closed its season at 35-21 with the loss.
The RedStorm finished the season with 15 wins in their final 17 outings, with the only losses coming at the hands of the Eagles.
Embry-Riddle scored single markers in each of the first two innings against Rio senior starter Ryan Christophel (Cincinnati, OH) and Cyr did the rest.
The junior right-hander checked the RedStorm on four hits and a run over 8-2/3 innings before Zac Grotz, who started and tossed seven shutout innings in Wednesday's win over Rio, recorded the game's final out for his ninth save.
Cyr, who walked three and struck out eight, won for the seventh time in 11 decisions.
Christophel, who finished 2-6 with the loss, lasted just 2-2/3 innings. The left-hander allowed just one hit in his time on the moun, but walked six, fired two wild pitches and hit a batter in his 73-pitch outing.
Sophomore Trent Downs (Chillicothe, OH), who went eight innings in Rio's tournament-opening win over Southeastern (Fla.) University on Tuesday morning, came on to record the final out of the third inning and finished the night with 5-1/3 innings of four-hit, shutout relief with three strikeouts.
Embry-Riddle grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Jake Cavender reached on a one-out walk, moved to second on a single by Liam Goodall, took third as Enderson Velasquez reached on an error by Christophel and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Josh Gracia.
The lead grew to 2-0 in the second when Kyle Buchanan led off with a walk, advanced to to third on a one-out walk to Ryan Maxon and a fielder's choice grounder to second by Tobias Moreno and scored on a wild pitch by Christophel.
The Eagles loaded the bases with two outs in the third against Christophel, but Downs came on to record the final out of the frame and scattered four singles over his final five innings of work.
Rio Grande got its only run against Cyr in the third.
Senior Kyle Findley (Cincinnati, OH) led off with a single, but was forced out at second on a sacrifice bunt attempt by sophomore Carlos Flores (Guayanilla, Puerto Rico). Flores stole second, took third on a groundout by sophomore Luis Jimenez (Salinas, Puerto Rico) and scored moments later on a wild pitch by Cyr.
The RedStorm saw four other scoring threats go unfulfilled, leaving runners in scoring position in the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings.
Senior Malduino Gonzalez (Maracaibo, Venezuela) singled with one out in the fifth and Flores reached on a two-out hit, but Jimenez flied to right to end the inning.
Senior Kevin Arroyo reached second on a one-out error in the sixth, but Cyr fanned junior Kirk Yates (Chillicothe, OH) and freshman Cody Blackburn (Amanda, OH) swinging to end the threat.
Jimenez singled with one out in the eighth and stole second, but the threat died with a strikeout of senior Grant Tamane (Pickering, Ontario, Canada) and a routine groundout to second by Arroyo.
Cyr retired the first batters in the ninth before issuing a walk to junior Chris Ford (Athens, OH), prompting head coach Randy Stegall to lift Cyr in favor of Grotz.
Junior pinch-runner Tyler Noel (Portsmouth, OH) promptly stole second to put the tying run in scoring position, but Gonzalez bounced into a game-inning groundout to shortstop.
Garcia was the game's only multi-hit performer, going 2-for-3 in the victory for the Eagles.
The loss marked the final collegiate outing for Rio's senior corps of Tamane, Arroyo, Gonzalez, Findley, Christophel, Landon Hutchison and Anthony Knittel.
Rio Grande reached the tournament final by defeating third-seeded Bryan College in the loser's bracket final earlier in the day, 5-4.
The RedStorm, who were blanked on two hits through the first five innings, exploded for five runs in the sixth inning to erase an early 4-0 deficit.
Blackburn had a two-run single to get Rio on the board and, after another run scored on a throwing error, Gonzalez plated the tying and go-ahead markers with a single to right.
Sophomore Daryin Lewis (Circleville, OH), who was touched up for four runs - only one of which was earned - and five hits over the first three innings, checked the Lions (44-18) on three hits - all singles - over the final six innings for his sixth win in seven decisions.
Tamane had two of Rio Grande's five hits in the win, while Chris Jeffries went 3-for-4, including a triple and a double, in the loss for Bryan.
Preston King added two runs batted in for the Lions.
Hunter Tipton started and took the loss for BC, allowing four hits and four runs in five-plus innings.
Rio's win avenged four losses to the Lions in the opening series of the season in early February in Dayton, Tenn.