The EMU baseball men moved their record back to .500 with a 9-7 non-conference win over Southern Virginia Wednesday afternoon in Harrisonburg.  The Royals took over the lead in the second and then held off a SVU rally in the ninth to improve to 18-18.

Eastern Mennonite has won three of their last four games to get back to .500.  They had been at .500 or better all season until an April 2 loss at Apprentice School put them below the mark.  Regardless of the outcome of their final three games, the Royals have shown marked improvement in Coach Ben Spotts' second season.  With two wins in their remaining three chances, the men could earn just the third 20-win season in program history.

Southern Virginia jumped ahead of the men with two runs in the top of the first in Wednesday's game.  EMU committed three errors in the frame and both scores were unearned.  The Royals scored on a two-out single in their first at-bat, but then gave the run back with another unearned tally in the second to trail 3-1.

Four straight hits in the bottom of the second finally got the men in front.  Justin Rodriguez (Miramar, Fla./Monsignor Edward Pace) sliced a two-run triple to right center to tie the score, and Griffin Stanley (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) singled to score Rodriguez and make it 4-3.  A fielding error by the Knights brought in one more score as EMU lead 5-3.

After a total of eight runs over the first two innings, the offenses went quiet until EMU's half of the fifth.  A combination of three hits and two errors allowed the men to score three unearned runs and push the lead to five.  Another run in the sixth made it 9-3.

Southern Virginia scored twice in the seventh, and got two more unearned runs in the ninth, but Austin Marzullo (Shippensburg, Pa./Shippensburg) came in for a quick fly ball final out, leaving the tying run at the plate.

The Royals out-hit SVU 14-11, but escaped despite committing five errors and giving up five unearned runs.  Kyle Mathews (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge) batted 3-4 with two RBIs.  Rodriguez was 2-4 with three RBIs and a run.  Kyle Salladay (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) was 2-4 with two runs scored.  Stanley hit 1-3 with two RBIs and a run, while Brandon Carroll (Fredericksburg, Va./Stafford) had two hits and Jonathan Estrada (Miami, Fla./Doral Academy) scored twice.

Kyle Johnson (Rustburg, Va./Rustburg) started and left after giving up three unearned runs in the 3.0 innings.  Kyle Armstrong (Greenville, Va./Riverheads) allowed two runs over the next 4.0 innings to earn the win and improve to 3-1.  Marzullo picked up his second save for his 0.1 inning of work.

EMU's final weekend starts with a rescheduled home date with rival Bridgewater on Friday.  First pitch in Harrisonburg is 1:30pm.  The Royals then end the season with a doubleheader at Roanoke on Saturday.