The Eastern Mennonite baseball men struggled to get their offense going in a tough 2-1 loss at Washington and Lee Wednesday evening.  Rain delayed the start of the game by three and a half hours, and when play finally started the first inning made the difference in the outcome.

With the loss, the Royals missed out on a chance to jump into sixth place in the ODAC standings.  EMU (6-8 ODAC) remains a half game behind Hampden-Sydney (7-8) in the standings as the Tigers lost at home to Lynchburg.

Washington and Lee jumped on the men in their first at-bat, starting with a single to left and back-to-back bunt singles.  The Generals scored one run on a sacrifice fly and added another on a two-out single for the 2-0 lead.

EMU had a runner in scoring position in each of the first two innings but couldn't touch home until the fifth.  Kyle Salladay (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) led off with an infield single and was sacrificed to second.  Nic Love (Bedford, Va./Staunton River) then poked a single up the middle and Salladay came around to cut the deficit in half.  Patrick Love (Bedford, Va./Staunton River) walked to give new life to the rally, but a pair of grounders ended the frame.

The Royals nearly repeated the effort two innings later, but Salladay was left stranded at third base.

With starter Jake Brown (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) and reliever Austin Marzullo (Shippensburg, Pa./Shippensburg) doing their job to kept W&L's offense at bay, EMU had one last chance in the ninth.  Justin Rodriguez (Miramar, Fla./Monsignor Edward Pace) led off with a single and Salladay laid down a sacrifice to get the tying run in scoring position.  But a pair of strikeouts whiffed away the threat, leaving the Royals with the tough loss.

The decision came one week after Eastern Mennonite had beaten the Generals, the ODAC's tenth-place team, in Harrisonburg, 3-0.

The Royals got at least one runner on base in seven of the nine innings, but they also left six men on.  Salladay batted 2-2 with the one run scored.  Rodriguez also had a pair of singles.  Nic Love and Ryan Hedrick (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) had the only other hits.

After giving up four hits and two runs in the first inning, Brown settled down on the hill and allowed just five more hits before leaving with one out in the seventh.  Marzullo retired all five batters he faced in relief.

Eastern Mennonite (12-13 overall) returns home this weekend, playing a pair of ODAC doubleheaders.  They host Guilford Saturday at noon followed by a rescheduled date with Roanoke Sunday at noon.  Senior Recognition will also precede the games on Sunday.