A four-run rally in the top of the ninth inning gave EMU's baseball men a win in their first ODAC game of the year, a 5-4 decision at Roanoke.  The Royals dropped the nightcap, but sit at 1-1 in the conference along with the majority of the other ODAC teams who played on opening weekend.

EMU 5, Roanoke 4
After getting runners on base in four of the previous innings, the Royals finally broke through in the ninth.  Trailing 3-1, Kyle Salladay (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) and Patrick Love (Bedford, Va./Staunton River) opened with frame with back-to-back walks.  Nic Love (Bedford, Va./Staunton River) laid down a sacrifice bunt, but the Maroons' pitcher made a wild throw allowing everyone to take an extra base and the first run to score.  The men then tied it on a one-out wild pitch.

Griffin Stanley (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) laced an RBI double, chasing in Nic Love for the go-ahead run.  Joe Hall (Gladys, Va./Rustburg) followed with a single and Stanley touched home to make it 5-3.

The extra run came in vital as Roanoke scored once in the bottom of the ninth.  But Hall finished off the save as he left the tying run stranded on second with a strikeout and two fly balls.

Ryan Hedrick (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) led the offense with a 3-5 performance, including an RBI single to score EMU's first run in the sixth inning.  Kyle Armstrong (Greenville, Va./Riverheads) had a pair of singles and scored a run.

He also started on the mound but took a no-decision after giving up two runs in 4.2 innings.  Aaron Hooven (Carroll, Va./Carroll County) threw 3.1 frames and ended up with the win to improve to 3-0.  Hall allowed the run in the ninth but picked up his second save of the year.

Roanoke 9, EMU 0
The nightcap didn't start well and also didn't have any late-inning heroics, as the men were no-hit by Roanoke's John Ruhlman.  EMU earned five walks, led by two each from Salladay and shortstop Zach Roberts (Stuarts Draft, Va./Riverheads).

Starting pitcher Jake Brown (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) gave up one run in the first, but was touched up for four more in the third before being chased.  He fell to 1-2 with the loss.  Six other men threw in relief.

Now 9-3 overall, Eastern Mennonite heads to California for a Spring Break trip.  The Royals will play four games against Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools over a span of three days.  All of the games are in the Los Angeles area.  Claremont-Mudd-Scripps hosts the first one Monday afternoon.