The offense was certainly there as the baseball men had 16 hits in the opener and 18 in the nightcap of Saturday's home doubleheader against Hampden-Sydney College. Defensive and pitching let-downs hurt the Royals in the first game, though, before they broke a seven-game skid in the second, earning a 9-6 win.

EMU (12-13 / 4-8 ODAC) stays at home on Tuesday, hosting rival Bridgewater College at 4:00pm.

Hampden-Sydney 11, EMU 8
The teams traded runs in the third before Hampden-Sydney was gifted with five scores in the fourth. The Tigers only had two hits in the frame and three of the runs were unearned.

Patrick Love (Bedford, Va./Staunton River) flipped a single down the left field line to start the sixth, and the team rallied. Ryan Hedrick (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) capped a five-run rally with a two-RBI single up the middle, tying it back up at 6-6.

But H-SC took the lead back with a homerun in the seventh, and then dropped in four runs in the eighth. The visitors started their rally with a leadoff single, but then touched home four times without another hit.

EMU scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to get within three, and then started a two-out rally in the ninth. With the bases loaded, Hedrick ripped a low line drive with a destination of the gap in right-center, but the Tigers' second baseman snagged it for the final out.

The Royals out-hit Hampden-Sydney 16-10, but gave up 11 free passes via walks and hit batsmen. Four defensive errors made five of the runs unearned.

Joe Hall (Gladys, Va./Rustburg) and Nic Love (Bedford, Va./Staunton River) each had three hits. Griffin Stanley (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) batted 2-4 with a walk, scoring twice and driving in another.

The pitching staff went through seven hurlers. Lefty Aaron Hooven (Carroll, Va./Carroll County) fell to 3-2 as he gave up the lead with a longball in the seventh.

EMU 9, Hampden-Sydney 6
After leaving 14 men on base in the opener, the offense scored once in the bottom of the first for their first lead of the day. The lead held at 2-1 until the Tigers pieced together a four-run rally, all with two outs in the fifth.

Trailing 5-2, the Royals opened up the bottom half of the frame with three straight hits. Patrick Love capped the inning with a two-run single to center, pushing EMU back in front, 6-5.

Hampden-Sydney tied it in the top of the seventh, but Hall's squeeze play re-gained the lead at 7-6. The men added two more in the eighth for some breathing room, and Hall coaxed a double play in the ninth to help him earn his fourth save.

Kyle Armstrong (Greenville, Va./Riverheads) was a perfect 5-for-5 from the plate, scoring three runs. Kyle Salladay (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) had three hits while Patrick Love finished 2-3 with three RBIs.

In his first appearance of the year, freshman Zach Cook (Stuarts Draft, Va./Stuarts Draft) pitched 2.2 innings, giving up just one run to get the win. Hall got the final four outs for the save.

The Royals have double digit hits in 16 of their games this season.

Coach Ben Spotts said his team has the ability to make a late-season run: