PRESCOTT, Ariz. – On the first day of the 2023 California Pacific Conference Baseball Championships, Embry-Riddle had leads early in both contests only to see its opponents come back to pick up wins in both games, eliminating the Eagles from the tournament and ending their season. ERAU dropped its opener, 14-6, to Simpson before falling to Westcliff, 6-5.

Game 1

Embry-Riddle jumped out to an early lead in the first game of the day, scoring three times in the first and twice in the second. In the first the Eagles put their first two runners on for junior Roberto Garza-Nunez (Salinas, Calif.) who brought in the first run of the contest with an infield single. Junior Luke Jepsen (Temecula, Calif.) then plated another with a sac fly before junior Owen Cain (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) made it 3-0 with a single to center. In the second senior Travis Strickler (Gilbert, Ariz.) put the Eagles up 5-0 with a two-run home run. 

Simpson scored its first two runs in the fourth and added a single run in the fifth to make it a two-run game. The Redhawks then exploded for eight runs in the seventh when they collected six hits, including one double, and took advantage of an ERAU error to take an 11-5 lead.

That proved to enough to carry Simpson to the win, as Embrey-Riddle was held to just one run after the second inning, a run in the ninth on an RBI single by Jepsen, who went 3-for-4 in the contest.

Game 2

As they did in the first game of the tournament, ERAU struck first against Westcliff. After two scoreless innings, the Eagles picked up a two-out infield hit by junior Calvin Solie (Buckeye, Ariz.) who then moved up on a wild pitch and then scored on a Strickler double. Westcliff scored twice in the bottom of the third to take the lead, but the Eagles came back to grab the back again in the fourth.

Garza-Nunez led off with a double and eventually scored on a base hit by Jepsen. With two down freshman Javier Izaguirre Jr. (Riverside, Calif.) singled home Jepsen to make it 3-1.

Embry-Riddle picked up another run in the fifth on a fielders' choice play, but the Warriors rallied in the bottom half of the inning, taking advantage of a pair of Eagle errors to score three times and take a 5-4 advantage.

ERAU tied it in the top of the sixth on a Solie RBI single, but Westcliff got the run back in the bottom half of the inning on a sacrifice fly. The Eagles could not come up with the equalizer the rest of the way, however, as they left five on base over the last three innings as they saw their season come to a close.