The teams combined for 25 hits and 19 runs, not to mention 16 walks. Despite getting 14 hits, it was allowing the free passes that cost EMU's baseball men Tuesday in an 11-8 loss at Whittier College in Whittier, Calif.

Eastern Mennonite slips to 9-4 with their second loss in a row. The men wrap up their Spring Break trip to the Los Angeles area with two games in two locations on Wednesday.  They play an afternoon game at talented La Verne before making a short bus trip for a night game at Chapman. Video and live stats are available for both games.

EMU had a game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps rained out on Monday.

The Poets took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, and EMU got their first runs when Kyle Salladay Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) ripped a two-RBI single with two outs in the third.

By the bottom of the fourth, things started to get crazy. Whitter scored once in the fourth, but the Royals plated two in the top of the fifth to tie the score at 4-4. The home team stayed in front with a single run in the bottom of the frame, but EMU broke loose in the sixth.

Kyle Mathews (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge) tied it with a pinch hit RBI single and Kyle Armstrong (Greenville, Va./Riverheads) gave his team a 6-5 lead with a two-out RBI single up the middle.

That lead was short-lived, however, as the Poets used a walk to start a two-out rally in their half of the inning. Whitter eventually scored three times, all unearned, to surge back in front, 8-6.

They added three more insurance runs in the eighth, which came in handy as EMU mounted a comeback in the ninth. Patrick Love (Bedford, Va./Staunton River) and Griffin Stanley (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) each had RBIs singles to cut the margin down to three before a grounder to short finally ended the rally.

EMU out-hit Whitter, 14-11, but also gave up 10 walks.  The Poets added five stolen bases.

Five Royals had multi-hit games, led by Joe Hall (Gladys, Va./Rustburg) who was 2-4 with two walks and two runs.  Stanley and Love each had two hits to go with a walk, run and RBI.  Armstrong and Mathews each had a pair of hits along with one run and RBI.

Starting pitcher Ryan Brewer (Martinsville, Va./Franklin County) went three innings and allowed three runs in a no decision. Aaron Hooven (Carroll, Va./Carroll County) was one of four relievers and got tagged with three unearned runs in 1.1 innings to drop to 3-1 with the loss.