Box Score The first two innings were not indicative of the rest of the game when Shenandoah hosted EMU in baseball on Thursday. Neither team scored until the third, before the offenses exploded and SU surged to a 21-6 decision in Winchester.
The Royals were the first team to touch home when they plated four runs in the top of the third. Griffin Stanley (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) started the rally with a leadoff walk and Adam Posey (Poquoson, Va./Poquoson) followed with a single. Ryan McAlister (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) brought in the first run on a squeeze play, and Brandon Carroll (Fredericksburg, Va./Stafford) later added a two-run single. Kyle Mathews (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge) had an RBI single to make it 4-0.
Shenandoah took note, however, and hit their own rally in the bottom of the frame. The Hornets scored eight runs to leapfrog in front, 8-4.
Stanley and Posey had RBI hits in the fourth to slice it to 8-6, but SU didn't relent. Shenandoah, which jumped into the national ranking at No. 18 this week, methodically scored 13 runs over their next four at-bats, making it 21-6 by the end of the seventh. Neither team scored again.
Posey did his job atop EMU's batting order, going 3-3 with a walk and an RBI. Stanley was nearly as effective from the No. 9 spot, finishing 2-3 with a walk, two runs and an RBI. Carroll knocked in a pair of runs.
Kyle Armstrong (Greenville, Va./Riverheads) started on the mound for the Royals and was tagged for five runs in 2.0+ innings. He took the loss and fell to 2-1 on the season. The men used seven pitchers on the day, with no one throwing more than two innings.
EMU slides to 12-9 with the loss, including 0-6 in the ODAC. They host Hampden-Sydney in a conference twinbill this Saturday, with first pitch at noon in Harrisonburg.
