PRESCOTT, Ariz. – A total of 35 hits that resulted in 32 runs was the final totals in high-scoring, opening game of a California Pacific Conference baseball series between Embry-Riddle and Westcliff. It was the Warriors that came out on top, 18-14, in a contest that featured three home runs by each team.

Embry-Riddle struck first with a run in the bottom of the first. Senior Travis Strickler (Glendale, Ariz.) beat out an infield single, moved to third on a double by junior Drew Barragan (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.) and then scored on a sac fly by junior Roberto Garza-Nunez (Salinas, Calif.).

Westcliff came back and took an 8-1 lead with four runs in each of the third and fourth innings. It was a lead that the Warriors would not give up. ERAU got a pair back in its half of the fourth, but Westcliff put up five in the sixth to take a 13-3 lead.

Faced with the game ending early with the 10-run rule, the Eagles fought back in the bottom of the seventh with four runs to keep the game going. Barragan plated the first run with an RBI single before a second scored on a wild pitch. Junior Josh Beattie (Lakewood, Colo.) then delivered a pinch-hit, RBI triple before junior Jacob Aguirre (La Verne, Calif.) doubled in the final run of the inning.

It then came down to a wild ninth inning that saw a total of 12 runs scored. Westcliff had a pair of two-run home runs on its way to five runs in its half of the frame. ERAU was not done and came up with seven runs of its own before the Warriors could record the final out. The Eagles swatted three long balls in the uprising; two-run shots by junior Luke Jepsen (Temecula, Calif.) and Strickler, and a solo blast by Barragan that would be the last of the scoring as Westcliff held on for the victory.