Six-run seventh pushes EMU past SVU, 12-8

For the second straight day, EMU came from behind to earn a 12-8 win, this time at home against Southern Virginia University.

This follows Monday’s 12-8 extra-inning win at Ferrum.

Eastern Mennonite has now won three of their last four games. They stay at home Wednesday for a rescheduled game against Hood.

Southern Virginia took a 3-1 lead after two innings of Tuesday’s contest. The men put together a two-run third to tie the score and finally grabbed their first lead at 4-3 with an unearned run in the sixth.

In a wild seventh inning, the teams combined to score 11 runs. The Knights put together seven hits, including three doubles, and exploded for five runs to flip back in front, 8-4.

Despite the sudden large deficit, the Royals were undeterred, starting their own big frame with leadoff singles from Damon Frazier (Waynesboro, Va./Wilson Memorial) and Ryan Hedrick (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby). David Meehan (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem) smacked an RBI single to bring in the first run and open the floodgates. Kyle Salladay (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) shot an two-run double to make it 8-7, and Dean Lowery (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield), Griffin Stanley (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) and Joe Hall (Gladys, Va./Rustburg) each followed with an RBI hit to seesaw the Royals to a 10-8 lead.

In all, EMU rapped out seven hits in the inning, including five straight run-scoring hits.

The men snuffed out an SVU rally with a double play in the top of the eighth before Lowery doubled the lead with a two-run single in the bottom of the frame. The Knights drew a pair of walks in the ninth, but two strikeouts kept them off the board once again.

The Royals collected 19 hits in the win, as each position player had at least one hit. Lowery led the charge by hitting 3-5, with three RBIs and two runs. Meehan and Stanley each had three hits and accounted for three runs.

Spencer Laitinen (Woodbridge, Va./C.D. Hylton) earned the win by getting EMU out of the top of the seventh and pitching a scoreless eighth. Hall threw the ninth. Tyler Campbell (Luray, Va./Luray) pitched the first 6.1 and got a no-decision.