Some days are all about offense, and Wednesday was one of those days as the EMU baseball team out-lasted Hood College 16-12.  With all of the scoring, the three-hour game was called due to darkness in the middle of the eighth inning.

The Royals are now 7-4 with their fourth straight win.  The men are also 5-0 at home so far this year.  Eastern Mennonite hosts Randolph-Macon in an ODAC doubleheader on Saturday, with first pitch at noon.  It will be a busy weekend as they head to Emory & Henry for a makeup doubleheader on Sunday.

EMU took a 3-0 lead after two before Hood got their bats going.  The Blazers, in their first year of existence as a team, scored twice with two outs in the third, but the Royals got both scores back in the bottom of the frame, making it 5-2.

Hood then exploded in the fourth, combining five hits with three walks to score seven times for a 9-5 lead.  The Royals locked up the score at 9-9 in the fifth.  Brendon Salladay (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) had a two-run single, and two more RBI singles tied it up.  All of the runs scored with two outs.

The Blazers snuck back into the lead with a two-out run in the sixth, but Eastern Mennonite had yet another two-out rally in the bottom of the frame.  Kyle Salladay (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) had a two-run single and Justin Rodriguez (Miramar, Fla./Monsignor Edward Pace) shot a two-run triple as the men plated five to go ahead 14-10.

Each team scored twice in the seventh before Hood finally went down in order in the top of the eighth.  By then, shadows had long since covered the field and the game was called.

Despite batting just seven times, the Royals banged out 23 hits, their highest total in Coach Ben Spotts' three years.  Rodriguez finished 4-5 with four RBIs and two runs.  Joe Hall (Gladys, Va./Rustburg) also batted 4-5 with a couple of runs.  Ryan Hedrick (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) was 3-5 with two runs and two RBIs.  Brandon Carroll (Fredericksburg, Va./Stafford) was 2-3 with two walks and scored three times.  Five other men each had a pair of hits.

Spotts used the game as a "staff day" for his pitching staff, using eight men on the mound.  Starter Garry Ormsby (Maple Shade, N.J./Maple Shade) struck out three in two scoreless innings.  Brad Matthias (Swansboro, N.C./Swansboro) allowed one run in the sixth but earned the win.  Hall threw the final 2.0 innings of scoreless ball, earning a save.

Coach Ben Spotts said his team swung the bats well once again: