DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In contrast to Friday night's flurry of home runs, Nova Southeastern relied upon its defense and a season-best outing from right-hander Derik Beauprez in game one of Saturday afternoon's doubleheader in Daytona Beach, Florida. The offense returned to its usual ways, though, in the finale as the Sharks followed up the 2-1 victory with 20 hits on their way to a 17-4 win and a series sweep on the road over Sunshine State Conference provisional member Embry-Riddle.
Saturday's pair of triumphs marked the Sharks' second sweep of the Eagles in as many seasons, as they now climb to 28-15 overall on the year.
"It was a great series sweep for us," said head coach Greg Brown. "I thought we'd been playing better baseball, and it really culminated this weekend. I'm really proud of this team. We really needed to come up here and play well for our postseason hopes, and I think we rose to the challenge. I think we can be special if we put it together in all three phases."
Game One
Nova Southeastern mustered only five hits in the series clincher, yet didn't need much more thanks to an overall stout effort from the pitching staff – namely Beauprez.
The junior had worked beyond four innings just one other time in 12 appearances thus far in 2017. Saturday was much different, however, as Beauprez used a fairly efficient 95 pitches to complete seven innings on the bump. Minus a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh, he didn't make many mistakes. When he did, though, the defense was able to bail him out with a pair of unassisted double plays by second baseman Jancarlos Cintron. En route to his fourth win, Beauprez finished with five strikeouts while surrendering only four hits.
Following a one-out single by Dylan Woods and a walk by Kevin Suarez, runners eventually stood on the corners in the top of the first when an attempted steal by Suarez forced an errant throw into center field, allowing Woods to trot home for the game's first run.
That lone run remained as the difference until an Embry-Riddle miscue aided the Sharks yet again in the fourth. With Jake Anchia standing on second, an apparent inning-ending grounder sailed wide from the Eagles' first baseman to help extend the Sharks' cushion to 2-0.
The Nova Southeastern bats were silenced the rest of the way, but after Beauprez exited in the top of the eighth, the bullpen was able to slam the door shut on the home team. Devin Meyer recorded a scoreless eighth inning in just his second relief appearance before closer Josh Glick induced the game-ending, 6-4-3 double play for save No. 7.
Beauprez retired nine straight batters at one point, and 15 of 17 overall until the home run in the seventh by Embry-Riddle's Luis Olivier.
Game Two
Led by a pair of long balls early on from sluggers Brandon Gomez and Jeremy Vasquez, the Sharks scored in each of the first five innings and never looked back in the series finale.
Southpaw Jonny Ortiz fanned four batters in five innings in his third consecutive Saturday start, and received more than plenty of run support to move to 4-0 this season.
The highlight of the afternoon, though, was Cintron and his 6-for-7 performance at the dish. The Nova Southeastern second baseman singled in his first five plate appearances and later tied the NSU single-game hit mark with a solo shot in the eighth. Cintron also scored four times, moving him into sole possession for the league lead with 54 runs.
Nova Southeastern wasted no time getting on the board, scoring in the top of the first for the third time this weekend thanks to a Suarez RBI-single through the left side of the infield.
The first inning was just the start, though, as Andrew Liberty doubled the advantage in the ensuing frame with a run-scoring single of his own before a Michael Hernandez sacrifice fly stretched the margin to 3-0 in favor of the Sharks.
Embry-Riddle responded with a run in the bottom of the second to close the gap to 4-1, but saw its momentum come to a screeching halt after Vasquez blasted his team-leading 14th dinger to lead off the third. The offense continued its attack, too, into the fourth when Gomez capped a five-run inning with a two-run blast to straight-away center to tie J.D. Martinez with his program-record 32nd homer of his career.
Holding onto a healthy 12-3 cushion midway through the ball game, the Sharks were then able to cruise the rest of the way on a weekend in which it outscored Embry-Riddle by a combined 39-11 margin.
NSU will return home next Friday when it'll face Florida Southern in a crucial three-game, SSC tilt. For complete coverage, log onto NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Twitter @NSU_Baseball.
