Box Score When the dust settled after a flurry of action over the final two innings, EMU's baseball men had their win, taking down Southern Virginia 9-5 in Buena Vista, Va. The Royals improve to 16-17 with the road decision, giving them the most wins in a season since 2002.
Despite both teams getting runners on base, the game was low-scoring for the first seven innings. The Royals scored an unearned run in each of the fourth and fifth innings to hold a small 2-0 edge.
Eastern Mennonite broke open the game in the eighth, combining three hits with two walks to score three times. The Knights committed an error to the Royals' leadoff batter in the ninth, and the result was four more unearned runs. Ryan McAlister (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) wrapped up the scoring with a two-run single, pushing the lead to 9-0.
Southern Virginia finally dented home in the bottom of the ninth, but even their five-run rally wasn't enough as the Royals held on for the 9-5 win.
Jonathan Estrada (Miami, Fla./Doral Academy) paced EMU's balanced 15-hit attack, as he batted 4-5 with two RBIs. Five other men had two-hit days: McAlister, who added three RBIs; Adam Posey (Poquoson, Va./Poquoson), who scored twice; Ryan Hedrick (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby), who had two doubles, two runs and two RBIs; David Meehan (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem), who smacked two doubles; and Conner Smith (Chesapeake, Va./Oscar Smith), who scored twice and added an RBI.
Starting pitcher Jacob Brown (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) threw 6.0+ scoreless innings to improve to 2-3. Ryan Henschel (New Market, Va./Stonewall Jackson) tossed scoreless ball for two innings until getting touched up for all five runs in the ninth.
Eastern Mennonite returns to ODAC play this weekend, hosting ninth-place Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday. Senior Recognition ceremonies will precede the first pitch of the doubleheader at 12:00pm.
