DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Interstat) — Jon Embury broke out of a brief slump with a pair of two-run home runs, powering the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles to an 11-5 victory over the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats in non-conference baseball action Friday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

The Eagles, who entered the game having dropped two of their last three, improved to 11-3 overall. The Wildcats fell to 9-5.

Embury, the Eagles’ catcher who had been hitless in his previous nine at-bats, delivered the game’s pivotal blows. He launched his first homer to left-center field in the top of the third inning, scoring Evan Dempsey to give Florida Gulf Coast a 2-1 lead. An inning later, after Jaret Nelson led off with a solo shot, Embury struck again. Following a Dempsey hit-by-pitch, Embury sent another drive over the left-field fence for his second two-run blast of the night, extending the Eagles’ advantage to 5-4.

That lead would not be relinquished, as the Eagles’ offense continued to pressure Bethune-Cookman pitching, racking up 16 hits. Javier Gorostola added a solo homer in the sixth, and Wilfred Gonzalez contributed an RBI double during a two-run eighth inning. Nelson finished a perfect 3-for-3 with a homer, two RBIs, three walks and three runs scored.

The most important sequence of the game came in the bottom of the sixth inning, immediately after the Wildcats had clawed back to within a run. Florida Gulf Coast had taken a 6-4 lead on Gorostola’s homer, but Bethune-Cookman answered in the bottom half. Pinch-hitter Ruben Zuany walked, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Jeter Polledo’s RBI triple, cutting the deficit to 6-5 with the tying run at third base and only one out.

Eagles reliever Reed Biemiller, who had just entered the game, escaped further damage by getting Maikol Lucena to fly out to center. Biemiller then dominated the rest of the way, firing four shutout innings of relief, allowing no hits and striking out three to earn the save. His effort stabilized the game after starter Evan Dempsey worked five innings, allowing four earned runs while striking out eight.

Bethune-Cookman was led by Polledo, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, both coming on triples. The Wildcats scored their first run in the opening inning on an RBI double by Jorge Rodriguez and added three in the third, keyed by Polledo’s first triple and an RBI single from Lucena, to briefly tie the game at 4-4 before Embury’s second homer.

The game’s outcome defied the projection from Interstat’s game simulator, which had forecast a narrow 8-7 Eagles victory. Florida Gulf Coast’s ELO win probability was set at 67.5%.

The two teams continue their three-game series Saturday.