The Eastern Mennonite baseball team continued their play at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational on Tuesday and split a pair of seven-inning games with Juniata College.
EMU 7, Juniata 2
The Royals had the bats going in the opener, rapping out 11 hits in six at-bats. The men had three hits in each of the second and third innings, plating a trio of runs each time to jump ahead 6-2. Justin King (Lititz, PA/Warwick) had a two-out, two-run double in the third.
The final run scored in the fifth, when Beau Banglesdorf (Stafford, VA/Mountain View) led off with a single and stole second. He eventually came in on an RBI groundout from Bryan Melendez (Lansdale, PA/Christopher Dock), providing the final tally.
Casey Harlow (Louisa, VA/Louisa County) was outstanding on the mound, striking out four and allowing just one earned run in six innings. Chris DeWald (Williamsburg, VA/Lafayette) pitched a perfect seventh.
Banglesdorf was 4-4 from the plate with a pair of stolen bases. He also scored three times and drove in another. King was 2-2 with two doubles and a sacrifice fly, as he had three RBIs.
Dylan Smith (Sterling, VA/Park View) had a pair of singles and Michael Wade (Waynesboro, VA/Fort Defiance) scored twice.
Juniata 7, EMU 6
The Eagles’ bats woke up in the nightcap, and took advantage of four EMU errors to grab the win.
Juniata put up two-spots in the first and second to go ahead 4-0. The Royals finally got going in the fourth, triggered by Banglesdorf’s out-out single. He scored on a sac fly and another came in when Jonathan Estrada (Miami, FL/Doral Academy) doubled.
EMU cut the lead to one in the fifth, when Justin Rodriguez (Miramar, FL/Pace) doubled in Smith with two outs.
Play got sloppy in the sixth, as the teams combined to commit three errors. The Royals scored three unearned runs in the top of the frame, all with two away. Chris Rodriguez (Miami, FL/Pace) plated the final run with a double as EMU went up 6-4.
But the Eagles had their own rally in the bottom of the inning when the leadoff batter reached on an error. One run scored on the inning’s second error, and two more can in with two outs, as Juniata snuck back in front 7-6.
The men tried a two-out rally in their final at-bat, getting a pair of walks, but Estrada grounded out to end the game.
Wade led another balanced offensive attack, going 2-3 with a walk and two runs. Mortimer, Chris Rodriguez, Justin Rodriguez and Estrada each had a hit and a RBI.
Adam Posey (Poquoson, VA/Poquoson) worked the first two innings, allowing four runs. Austin Davis (Poquoson, VA/Poquoson) threw 2-2/3 innings of scoreless relief in his first appearance as a Royal, while Logan Toney (Chesterfield, VA/Manchester) was the hard-luck loser, getting charged with three unearned runs in his 1-1/3 innings.
Eastern Mennonite settles at 6-8 after the split. The men play two more in Florida Wednesday afternoon, taking on Pitt.-Greensburg.
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