EMU won the second game of Saturday’s seven-inning double header against Southern Virginia thanks to a shutout effort on the mound by John Judy (Shanks, W.V./Hampshire). Six strong innings while allowing just one hit and striking out nine led the way for EMU to finish the day with a split.
The Royals travel down to Christopher Newport for their next contest on Wednesday, Feb. 19 to play at 2:00pm.
Southern Virginia 4, EMU 1 – 7 innings
Game one was an offensive struggle for both teams as each finished with just four hits. The difference was that three of the Knights’ hits went for home runs, with one a two-run homer and the other two solo shots.
Trailing 4-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh, a late rally pushed EMU for a comeback that left the tying run at the plate.
Ray Tricarico (Culpeper, Va./Eastern View) double into the left center gap with one out to ignite the offense then Corey Willis (Fredricksburg, Va./Massaponax) drove him in with a single. A hit by pitch put a second runner on base to bring the potential tying run up to bat, but a strikeout then picked off runner ended the game in dramatic fashion with Southern Virginia coming out on the winning end.
Bailey Hall (Daleville, Va./James River) started the game, threw 3.1 innings and struck out five batters. Brendon Barrett (Ocean Lakes/Virginia Beach, Va.) followed with 2.2 innings in relief with three strikeouts and only one hit given up.
EMU 4, Southern Virginia 0 – 7 innings
EMU got their offense going in game two. They loaded the bases in the second and third innings before finally cracking the scoreboard in the fourth.
A two-out rally started with back-to-back singles by Jacob Merica (Elkton, Va./East Rockingham) then Brett Lindsay (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester). A walk to Jordan Jones (Saxe, Va./Randolph Henry) loaded the bases once again. This time Robert Guenther (Falls Church, Va./George C. Marshall) hit a ball that resulted in a fielding error to bring home two runners and break the scoreless tie. Garrett Howard (Fredericksburg, Va./Courtland) followed that up with an RBI single through the left side of the infield to expand the lead to three runs.
Jones added an insurance run in the sixth inning when he earned his third walk of the game. He then proceeded to steal second and third base before scoring on an errant throw to third.
Judy picked up his second win of the season in the performance. Connor Lutz (Colonial Beach, Va./Colonial Beach) struck out three batters in a scoreless seventh inning in relief.
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