The Eastern Mennonite baseball men started a busy weekend on Saturday, playing a pair of ODAC games at Roanoke College.  The Royals split the twinbill before heading to Greensboro, NC, for two more games on Sunday.

EMU 9, Roanoke 5
Each team got a runner on in their first at-bat, but neither scored until RC plated two in the third and another pair in the fourth.

The Royals tied it up in the fifth.  Joshua Martin (Crozet, VA/Western Albemarle) started a four-hit rally with a one-out single up the middle.  After Justin King (Lititz, VA/Warwick) singled, Ryan McAlister (Bridgewater, VA/Turner Ashby) roped a triple to center to bring home both runners.  Chris Rodriguez (Miami, FL/Pace) then walked and stole second, which allowed McAlister to sneak in on the double steal.

B.J. Mortimer (Mechanicsville, VA/Lee-Davis) singled to put runners back on the corners, and a sacrifice fly from Justin Rodriguez (Miramar, FL/Pace) brought in a run to lock it up at 4-4.

EMU pitcher Daniel Stanley (Henrico, VA/Varina) left the bases packed in the bottom of the frame, and his offense took over in the sixth.  The men walked the bases loaded with one away, and McAlister added another big hit with a two-run double.  Chris Rodriguez followed with his own two-run double, and a fifth run scored an out later on a Maroon error.  The Royals batted through the order in taking a 9-4 lead.

Stanley then settled in from the mound, allowing only an unearned run the rest of the way to pick up the complete game victory.  He scattered eight hits in the nine innings while striking out six.  Two of the five runs were unearned.

The offense was good for 12 hits and five walks as every batter reached base at least once.  McAlister led the way, going 3-4 and missing the cycle by just a homerun.  He had four RBIs and scored twice.  Chris Rodriguez was 2-4 with a walk, collecting two RBIs and two runs.

Dylan Smith (Sterling, VA/Park View) had a single and two walks while King reached base twice and scored twice.  Beau Banglesdorf (Stafford, VA/Mountain View) added two hits to the cause.

Roanoke 6, EMU 1
The Maroons were effective early, combining three hits with an EMU error to grab a 3-0 lead after two innings.

Martin led off the third with a single.  After a sacrifice and wild pitch he stood on third base.  Chris Rodriguez's foul ball to right was deep enough to allow Martin to tag, trimming the deficit to 3-1.

Roanoke added a solo run in the fifth and two more in the eighth, but the Royals didn't get another runner past second base in taking the loss.

Despite getting nine hits in the nightcap, the men couldn't string the hits together.  Mortimer and Martin each had a trio of singles.  Jonathan Estrada (Miami, FL/Doral Academy) had a double with Chris Rodriguez and McAlister getting the other hits.

Casey Harlow (Louisa, VA/Louisa County) had a solid outing from the hill but took the loss.  He struck out 10 batters in 7.1 innings.  Adam Posey (Poquoson, VA/Poquoson) finished off the eighth and was charged with one run.

Eastern Mennonite moves to 11-22 after the split, including 4-10 in the ODAC.  The men play a rescheduled ODAC game at Guilford College Sunday at 2:00pm before playing a non-conference contest at Greensboro at 6:00pm.