Baseball: Eastern Mennonite 8, Mount Saint Vincent 4

The weather caused some issues with getting the day started, but the EMU Royals were ready to go when they finally did get on the field.  EMU’s baseball men had their fourth game of 10 hits or more as they improve to 4-1 with Sunday’s 8-4 win over Mount Saint Vincent.

The day had been scheduled for a doubleheader, but it rained until early afternoon and the two teams decided to play one game with a 2:30pm start.

EMU had runners on the corners in their first at-bat, but a double play kept them scoreless.  The visiting Dolphins got the first lead with a two-run single in the second, but Adam Marston‘s (Woodstock, Va./Miller School) RBI double cut that lead in half in the bottom of the frame.

Mount Saint Vincent made it 3-1 on a sacrifice fly in the fourth before the Royals struck.  Kyle Mathews (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge) led off with a single, but they still hadn’t scored with two away.  With two runners on, Chris Whitelow(Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) hit a grounder to short, but the throw sailed high and one run came in.  Griffin Stanley(Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) made the Dolphins pay for the two-out error by shooting a single up the middle to bring in two more, giving the men their first lead at 4-3.

Starting pitcher Cody Gibson (Charlottesville, Va./Fluvanna) earned a 1-2-3 fifth, and the bats picked right back up in the bottom of the frame.  With two outs, Marston smacked another double, this time chasing home two runs.  Whitelow punched a single to bring in Marston, bumping the lead to 7-3.

After two scoreless innings, Kyle Armstrong (Greenville, Va./Riverheads) hit an RBI double in the eighth to make it 8-3.  The Dolphins threatened in the ninth, but only scored once before reliever Jimmy Miller (Port Republic, Va./Spotswood) settled down and stranded two runners.

Gibson and Miller combined to allow just six hits and one walk.  Gibson went 5.0 strong in his collegiate debut to earn the win.  Miller allowed one run over the final 4.0 innings for the long save.

Mathews was locked in at the plate, going 3-4 with a triple and run scored.  Marston batted 2-4 with three RBIs and a run.  Stanley had a pair of singles and two RBIs.

The Royals banged out 11 hits to raise their team batting average at .331 after the opening week of play.

EMU is slated to host Messiah College in a single game Wednesday afternoon at 3:00pm.  They’ll also host Alfred State for three games over Saturday and Sunday.