FULLERTON – Hope International homered four times – including two by Isaiah Lane – and the baseball team rolled to 10-0 and 7-1 victories in GSAC action on Friday at Amerige Park.
The Royals have hit seven home runs so far in the series, and have outscored the Eagles 33-1.
HIU (24-11, 15-4 GSAC) held the Eagles scoreless for 18 straight innings before the visitors scored a run in the fifth inning of game two.
Lane was 4-for-5 with five runs scored and four RBI in addition to belting his third and fourth homers of the season.
Eddie Cotto batted 3-for-6 with three RBI while contributing his second roundtripper of the season. David Shackelford had a 3-for-7 day at the plate, and he went yard as well for his team-high tying fifth home run.
On the mound, Jake Thrift and Josh Landry had quality starts. Thrift threw 6.0 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and Landry fanned 10 in his six innings of work. Landry also won his 23rd career game, tying Trey Seeley (2024-25) for the school's all-time record.
Game 1 – Hope International 10, Embry-Riddle 0
The Royals rudely greeted ERAU starter Carson Stoller with back-to-back bombs from Shackelford and Lane to take an immediate 2-0 lead.
Lane's RBI double made it 3-0 in the second. The Royals added two runs in the fourth for a 5-0 lead.
HIU put the game out of reach in the sixth with a five-run outburst. Nathan Estrada had an RBI single and Cotto plated a pair of runs with a single to left field. The Eagles could not get out of the inning as their shortstop committed an error on a routine ground ball which allowed Cotto to score.
Preston Allen completed the scoring with an RBI single.
Thrift retired 11 of 12 batters from the end of the second through the fifth. He struck out a pair of hitters in the second after facing runners at first and third with one out.
He induced Carter Graham into an inning-ending double play in the sixth after the Eagles had singled twice and walked in the inning.
Jimmy Lake pitched a scoreless seventh for the Royals.
Thrift moved to 5-1 on the year after scattering six hits over his 6.0 innings. He walked just one batter.
Stoller took the loss to fall to 2-3, allowing five runs (four earned) in four innings of work.
Game 2 – Hope International 7, Embry-Riddle 1
Landry struck out double-digit batters for the fourth time in his last six starts and the eighth time in his career.
He fanned the side in the second and sixth innings. The Eagles loaded the bases in the sixth on a single and two walks, but the southpaw whiffed Fernando Perez-Ortega to end the threat.
HIU got Landry all the run support he needed after taking a 7-0 lead through three innings.
Colby Moran laced a two-run single to score Shackelford and Lane in the first, and Lane slammed his second homer of the day, a two-run blast in the second.
Cotto unloaded a solo shot to left to give the Royals a 5-0 lead in the third. HIU scored two more times in the inning following an ERAU error and a wild pitch that scored Estrada.
Landry gave up his only run in the fifth. ERAU (11-25, 4-15 GSAC) loaded the bases on three consecutive singles, scoring Graham on a double play ball from Logan Hudson.
Cooper Bagby pitched a clean seventh for HIU.
Landry won to improve to 7-2 on the season, while Spencer Lanz got the loss to fall to 1-4.
HIU and ERAU play a single game on Saturday with a first pitch at noon.
