EMU held leads early in each of their games at Hampden-Sydney today, only to be outscored by the Tigers each time. The two ODAC losses knock Eastern Mennonite out of the race for an ODAC Tournament berth.
The doubleheader was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was moved up a day because of the forecasted rains for this weekend.
The Royals (17-19/4-13 ODAC) have three games left in the season, all ODAC road contests. They play at rival Bridgewater College Monday afternoon at 4:00pm before wrapping up with a twinbill at Lynchburg next Saturday.
Even if they win all three of their games, the best EMU can do is finish tied with Roanoke for sixth and the Maroons hold the head-to-head tiebreaker between the two. Only the top six teams in the final ODAC standings make the postseason tournament.
Hampden-Sydney 13, EMU 7
The men put up a pair of runs in each the second and fourth innings of the opener for a 4-0 lead. David Meehan (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem) had an RBI double before a Dean Lowery (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) RBI groundout for the first two runs. In the fourth, Joe Hall (Gladys, Va./Rustburg) brought in Meehan with a sacrifice fly before Lowery scored on an error.
After managing just one baserunner against starter Damon Frazier (Waynesboro, Va./Wilson Memorial) over the first three innings, Hampden-Sydney (20-15/9-8 ODAC) loaded the bases with one out in the fourth. With one quick swing, the Tigers grabbed all the momentum with a grand slam.
The next inning, H-SC put two runners on base after the second out. Another homerun jumped the home team in front, 7-4. They had the lead up to 11-4 before the Royals scored again, getting a single run from a Zach Roberts (Stuarts Draft, Va./Riverheads) double in the eighth.
After Hampden-Sydney scored two more in the bottom of the eighth, Adam Marston (Woodstock, Va./Miller School) launched a two-run shot in the top of the ninth to finish the scoring.
EMU had plenty of chances, getting 13 hits and three walks to combine with four H-SC errors; however, they also left 12 men on base.
Frazier fell to 4-4 with the loss, giving up eight runs in 5.0 innings. He also hit a pair of singles and walked to reach base safely three times.
Roberts and Ryan Hedrick (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) each had two hits as well.
Hampden-Sydney 11, EMU 6
The nightcap was a virtual repeat of the first game.
Griffin Stanley (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) led off the game by drawing a walk with Roberts later smacking an RBI single for a 1-0 lead. Stanley then knocked in two runs with a bases loaded single in the second, making it 3-0, but the inning ended when the Royals had a runner thrown out at home.
The Tigers started their comeback in the third with a pair of runs. Then in the fourth, an RBI single tied the game before a two-run homer put Hampden-Sydney ahead for the first time at 5-3.
Down 6-3 in the seventh, Eastern Mennonite got one run back on an RBI double from Kyle Mathews (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge), but the Tigers erupted for five more runs in their half to bump the margin to 11-4.
Stanley and Hall each had RBI hits in the eighth to trim the margin to five runs, but any thoughts of a comeback were snuffed with a double play in the ninth.
EMU had a slight 13-12 edge in hits in the game, but hurt themselves by issuing five walks and committing three errors.
Hall batted 4-5 with two runs and an RBI, while Stanley drove in three runs and reached base three times. Mathews had two hits, while Meehan and Roberts each had a single and a walk.
Starting pitcher Jake Brown (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) was touched up for a six runs in 5.1 innings and fell to 1-4. Tristan Childress (Waynesboro, Va./Waynesboro) and Adam Campbell (Luray, Va./Page County) were the only pitchers to not allow any runs.
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