Embry-Riddle baseball won their first California Pacific Conference Championship in school history on Friday afternoon at Hohokam Stadium as the Eagles beat the Redhawks of Benedictine Mesa 9-7.   

Benedictine Mesa scored in the top of the 1^st inning, but the Eagles quickly answered back to tie the score at 1-1 in their half of the inning.  Javier Izaguirre Jr. (Riverside, Calif.) reached first after he was hit by a pitch.  Izaguirre Jr. moved to second on a single by Roberto Garza-Nunez (Salinas, Calif.) and came around to score on a defensive mistake by the Redhawks.  After one inning the score was tied 1-1. 

ERAU added another run in the bottom of the second inning.  Blake Moore (San Ramon, Calif.) started the inning with a single to center field and moved to second on a balk.  Gavin Botts (Lake Forest, Calif.) and Miles Murphy (Goodyear, Ariz.) both followed with singles to load up the bases.  Travis Strickler (Glendale, Ariz.) picked up the RBI on a groundout and put the Eagles up 2-1. 

The Redhawks tied the game back up in the top of the 4^th inning with a run, but the Eagles answered with three more runs to retake the lead.  Strickler hit a single to begin the inning and then stole second.  He advanced to 3^rd on a single by Izaguirre Jr. and scored on a throw to make the score 3-2.  Barragan then delivered a two run homerun and after four the score was 5-2. 

Benedictine Mesa would not go away quietly however as they tied the game up again in the top of the 6^th inning at 5-5. 

Once again, Embry-Riddle answered right back with three runs of their own.  Botts started the inning with a single and then Murphy was walked.  Izaguirre reached base again when he was hit by pitch to load up the bases.  Barragan delivered once again with a two run single.  The last run of the inning came on a single by Garza-Nunez and the Eagles led 8-5 after six innings. 

After the Redhawks got within one run in the top of the 7^th with the score 8-7, ERAU added an insurance run as Botts cross the play on a single by Izaguirre Jr. to give the Eagles a 9-7 advantage. 

Spencer Lanz (Atwater, Calif.) got the start on the mound and pitched five innings giving up six hits and just two runs.  Noah Tschopp (Las Vegas, Nev.) came on in relief and finished the final four innings of the game for ERAU. 

Embry-Riddle will move on to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round which will take place at various campus sites around the country.  The NAIA Selection show will take place on May 9^th at 2pm.