DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- After a hot start, the University of Rio Grande RedStorm bats went silent as they dropped a 4-3 decision to NAIA No. 8 and top seeded Embry-Riddle at the 54^th Annual NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round on Wednesday afternoon at Sliwa Stadium.

Rio Grande (48-12), ranked 25^th in the final NAIA Top 25 rating and the No. 3 seed in the group, jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening inning.Senior third baseman Tyler Schunk (Cincinnati, OH) had an RBI ground out to start the scoring.Junior leftfielder Michael Lynch (Cleveland, OH) followed with an RBI single and senior designated hitter Chris Mahon (Hamilton, OH) tripled home Lynch and the RedStorm were off and running.

However, Rio had only two hits after the first inning.The RedStorm had two chances late in the game to pull it out and could not come up with the timely hit.

Embry-Riddle (39-15) added two runs in the bottom of the first on a two-run homer off freshman southpaw Ryan Robertson (Waverly, OH).The Eagles would add single runs in the third and fourth frames and then held on for the win.

Robertson (12-2) pitched eight innings in the loss, giving up seven hits while striking out nine and walking two. Robertson was called for two balks, the second one of which was a controversial call that ultimately resulted in the deciding run crossing the plate.

Rio Grande head coach Brad Warnimont summed up the game."We scored those three runs in the first and then we didn't score after that."

Rio Grande will face St. Thomas University with the season on the line on Thursday at 2 p.m.Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at approximately 1:55 p.m.

St. Thomas bounced Union College from the tournament in convincing fashion, 17-1.