Box Score
March 18, 2009
Yellow Jackets Edge Baseball Royals, 9-7
Sophomore designated hitter Matt Atkins drove in a career-high three runs for EMU in a 9-7 loss to Randolph-Macon. (Courtesy Wayne Gehman)
Randolph-Macon College broke a 7-7 tie in the top of the eighth inning on an RBI single by Brian Jordan and then added another run in the ninth to edge the Eastern Mennonite University baseball team by a score of 9-7, Wednesday afternoon in Harrisonburg, Va.
The win puts the Yellow Jackets at 5-9 on the year. EMU drops to 6-10-1 overall with both teams now at 1-2 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
Sophomore designated hitter
Matt Atkins (Front Royal, Va./Warren Co.) went 1-for-3 with a run scored and three RBI. Atkins was robbed of extra bases in the bottom of the seventh inning when JC Conway made an over the shoulder grab.
Junior third baseman
Daniel Martin (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) and junior second baseman
Cody Davis (Goodview, Va./Staunton River) each went 3-for-5 for EMU with a run scored and an RBI.
Michael Wallace was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI for the Yellow Jackets. Kevin Davis and Greg Meleski each had three hits in five trips to the plate.
Randolph-Macon jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first inning as Wallace and Jeff Burk hit back-to-back home runs. EMU responded with a pair in the bottom half of the inning on RBI fielder's choices' by
Chris Harpine (Fredericksburg, Va./Colonial Forge) and
Aaron Martin (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite).
The Royals then tied the game at four in the second inning and pulled ahead 5-4 after the third. Atkins hit his fourth double of the season to drive in one while Davis laced a single through the left-side to drive in another. Atkins added a sacrifice fly in the third to cap the scoring.
A three-spot by the Yellow Jackets in the fifth inning put the visiting team back on top, 7-5. The game remained that way until the bottom of the seventh when EMU loaded the bases with one out. An RBI single by
Daniel Martin (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) and another sacrifice fly by Atkins notted the game up at seven all.
Jordan followed in the visitors half of the eighth inning with an RBI single. Conway hit his second home run of the season in the ninth to close out the scoring.
Haile Lytton pitched 2/3 of an inning in relief to pick up the win. Nick Simons allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth to record the first save of the year for Randolph-Macon.
Harpine went 2-for-3 with a run scored for EMU.
The Royals will face-off against Emory & Henry College this coming Saturday, March 21, down in Emory, Va., in an ODAC double header scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.
