Whether or not there are moral victories, the Eastern Mennonite baseball team played well in Sunday's ODAC opener at last year's champion, Randolph-Macon.  But in both games, the Yellow Jackets had the final say on their home field, taking a pair of wins from EMU.

Randolph-Macon 12, EMU 5
In the first game, the Royals exploded for four runs in their first at-bat to jump in the lead.  The men loaded the bases with two outs, bringing in one run when Michael Wade (Waynesboro, VA/Fort Defiance) reached on an error by the RMC shortstop.  Bryan Melendez (Lansdale, PA/Christopher Dock) then cleared the bases with a double, pushing the lead to 4-0.

Starter Adam Posey (Poquoson, VA/Poquoson) retired the first eight Yellow Jacket batters he faced, but ran into trouble in the fourth when RMC loaded the bases with nobody out.  The men got the first out at home after a groundball, but five runs ended up scoring.

The Royals got one back in the top of the fifth, tying the score at 5-5 when Melendez doubled in Beau Banglesdorf (Stafford, VA/Mountain View), but the home team went back in front with a two-run homerun in the seventh.

In the eighth, Randolph-Macon inflated a big cushion, combining five hits with a walk and hit batsman to score five times and provide the final 12-5 decision.

The offense banged out 10 hits, led by two each from Dylan Smith (Sterling, VA/Park View), Wade, Banglesdorf and Melendez.  Banglesdorf scored twice and Melendez had four RBI.

Posey pitched four innings and allowed five runs.  Andy Richter (Perkasie, PA/Christopher Dock) pitched three innings and took the loss after allowing the homer in the seventh.

Randolph-Macon 8, EMU 7 – 10 innings
The Royals jumped ahead again in the nightcap, but fell prey to a RMC comeback.

The teams traded three spots in the first inning, as Banglesdorf hit a two-run triple for EMU.  He helped with another two-out rally in the second, following a Justin Rodriguez (Miramar, VA/Pace) RBI single with a two-run double to put the men up 6-3.

Another run scored in the third on a squeeze play off the bat of B.J. Mortimer (Mechanicsville, VA/Lee-Davis), and EMU led 7-3.

The score stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh, when the Yellow Jackets brought home three runs to make it 7-6.  The Royals had the bases loaded with one away in the top of the ninth, but couldn't bring in any insurance.

It cost them in the bottom of the frame when RMC tied the game on an EMU error.  The Royals got a two-out walk in the top of the tenth, but the Yellow Jackets won the game with a two-out single in the bottom of the tenth.

Eastern Mennonite out-hit their hosts 14-12 in the nightcap, but still came up short.  Rodriguez went 3-5 with a walk and two runs.  Banglesdorf was 3-6 with four RBIs, finishing a homerun short of the cycle.

Smith reached base four times with two hits and two walks.  Wade and Justin King (Lititz, PA/Warwick) each had a pair of hits.

Starting pitcher Daniel Stanley (Henrico, VA/Varina) allowed six runs over 6-1/3 innings.  Casey Harlow (Louisa, VA/Louisa County) was charged with the game-tying run in his 1-2/3 innings, while Banglesdorf threw the final 1-2/3 innings and took the loss on his one run allowed.

Despite leading or being tied with Randolph-Macon for most of the two games, the Royals still came up with two losses against the ODAC's preseason number two team on the road.  Hopefully it's a sign of better things to come this year.

EMU, 4-7 and 0-2 in the ODAC, steps back out of league play this week with five games at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational in Winter Haven, FL.  After an overnight drive, the Royals play Cazenovia Monday afternoon at 2:30pm.