Wednesday's baseball game at rival Bridgewater was as exciting as one would expect an 8-6 game to be, packed with four lead changes. Unfortunately for Eastern Mennonite, the final lead change swung BC in front, as the Royals dropped an ODAC loss on the road.

The men were limited to seven hits, but took full advantage of seven more walks and two Eagle errors. That pattern started already in the second inning.

After two quick outs, an error and back-to-back walks loaded the bases. Griffin Stanley (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) poked an RBI single up the middle and Joe Hall (Gladys, Va./Rustburg) followed with a two-run single to give EMU a 3-2 lead.

The Eagles took the lead back with three runs in the bottom of the frame before EMU tied it in the fourth. Hall hit a bases loaded single to score one. After a grounder forced a runner at home, Ryan Hedrick (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) drew the third free pass of the inning to force in the tying run to make it 5-5.

The teams then combined for three straight 1-2-3 at-bats. A leadoff walk from Zach Roberts (Stuarts Draft, Va./Riverheads) broke that string in the sixth. Kyle Armstrong (Greenville, Va./Riverheads) got the clutch two-out single to bring home Stanley, who had also walked, to push the Royals back in front, 6-5.

Bridgewater loaded the bases with no one out in their half of the sixth, but Aaron Hooven (Carroll, Va./Carroll County) took over and coaxed three straight outs to preserve the one-run margin. The Eagles got to him in the seventh, however, using a walk and back-to-back singles to tie it up at 6-6.

With Armstrong relieving on the hill, BC got to the senior in the eighth. A leadoff homer put Bridgewater ahead, and a double knocked him out. Hall entered and got three outs, but one of them was a fly ball deep enough to bring in an Eagle runner from third, giving the home team an extra run as cushion.

EMU's 4-5-6 batters went down in order in the ninth, leaving Bridgewater with the win in Round 1 of the two 2016 meetings. The Royals host BC on April 5.

The bottom of the order started most of Eastern Mennonite's rallies. Patrick Love (Bedford, Va./Staunton River) had a pair of singles and scored each time. His brother, Nic Love (Bedford, Va./Staunton River), and Roberts each walked twice and scored once.

At the top of the order, Stanley went 1-2 with two walks, scoring twice and driving in another. Hall was 2-4 with three RBIs and Armstrong added a pair of hits.

Starter Josh Sydenstricker (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes) lasted just 1.1 innings and was tagged for five runs. Ryan Brewer (Martinsville, Va./Franklin County) was first in relief and locked down BC to just one hit in 3.2 frames. Armstrong fell to 2-1 with two runs in 0.2 innings. Both Brewer and Armstrong are normally weekend starters for the Royals, although they host lightly-regarded John Jay in a non-conference twinbill this weekend.

First pitch on Saturday is noon.