Edward Waters baseball team capped a successful day by upsetting NAIA No. 25 Keiser University by the score of 12-7 for their first win of the season. The Tigers played long ball in game three of the four game series.
It was the first win over Keiser since March 2017, when the Seahawks were ranked No. 11 in the country. The baseball win didn’t come easy, however, as EWC got its bats going early in front of Keiser home crowd at Silvester Field in, West Palm Beach, Florida.
In the top of the second inning the Tigers bats came alive. Joseph Eichen led off the inning hit by a pitch from Seahawks starter Amiel Abrieu. Kenshawn Herring singled to right field and Eichen stopped at second. Tyler Rich’s bunt single loaded the bases. Parker Rook reached base on an fielder’s choice to second base and a throwing error plated Edward Waters first two runs in the inning. Marcus Judd singled up the middle and with two on, Keilin Washington homered to right field for three more runs as Edward Waters jumped out to a 5-0 lead.
Keiser came storming back in the bottom of the second. A lead-off double and a balk moved the runner to third base preceded a Pete Crocitto two-run home run, making the score 5-2.
Edward Waters extended its lead in the top of the fourth. Rich reached on a fielding error, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a Wyatt Reid single to left field. Two batters later after loading the bases, centerfielder Alfredo Torres’ grand slam made the score 10-2.
Keiser would fight to stay in the game by adding a run in the bottom half of the 4th inning on a run scoring single trailing 10-3. They would add more runs in the fifth inning on back to back singles and a two-run double to left by Maquel Casanueva which brought Keiser to within 10-7.
Edward Waters scored the final runs of the game in the sixth on an two run double by Torres handing Keiser the 12-7 loss. For the day, Washington collected one hit, a three-run homer, Reid went 2 for 4 at the plate with one run batted in and Torres went 2 for 4 with a home run and 6 runs batted in.
EWC starter Manuel Guerra pitched a 7.0 complete game, allowing nine hits, seven runs, three earned runs, two walks and recorded four strikeouts. But Guerra really took it home for the Tigers, throwing three scoreless innings and claiming the win. He was able to minimize the damage. He’s now 1-0 on the season.
Keiser was also plagued by errors. They recorded two in the bottom of the second and finished the game with three.
Head coach Reginald Johnson stated “Manuel Guerra threw very well, kept us in the ball game and guys executed. We missed some pitches yesterday, we missed some opportunities yesterday, we found ways today to get better. We will watch film to improve and get ready for next weekend.”
The second game was called because of rain.