The Diamond Royals traveled down the road to crosstown rival Bridgewater to try to earn their first sweep over the Eagles since 2017. The game came down to the wire, with EMU falling with the tying run in scoring position, 6-5.

Eastern Mennonite fell to 5-6 on the year, with the Eagles improving to just under the .500 mark at 7-8. 

Bridgewater got the offense going in the bottom of the first with an  RBI single from Brett Tharp and an RBI groundout off the bat of Kevin Navedo to take an early 2-0 lead. 

After a quiet second inning from both teams, the Eagles extended their lead with a three-run inning in the bottom of the third, highlighted by a two-RBI single from Jonathan Sexton. 

At the end of three, the Royals found themselves in a 5-0 hole. 

The game settled down from there with both teams being unable to get anything across. The Royals continued threatening to mount a comeback, but the Eagles' pitching consistently got out of jams. Gage Riddick (Gates County, N.C./Gates County) took over on the mound for the Royals in the fourth inning and subsequently threw three shutout innings to keep EMU within striking distance. 

The Royals collected their first run of the game in the top of the seventh when Ray Tricarico (Culpeper, Va./Eastern View) led off the inning with a single, made his way around the basepaths, and scored on a well-placed bunt from Ethan Spraker (Vinton, Va./William Byrd). 

The Eagles answered the run with one of their own, scoring an unearned run in the bottom frame of the inning with a sacrifice fly from Navedo. 

The Royals tacked on two more in the top of the eighth after a hit, hit by pitch, and a walk loaded the bases and Blake Sargent (Suffolk, Va./King's Fork) knocked a base hit up the middle, scoring two in the process. 

After a shutdown inning from Adrian Abad (Naples, Fl./Barron Collier), the Diamond Royals went into the ninth only down 6-3. 

Natty Solomon (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite/Hesston) pinch hit to lead off the inning, singling through the left side to get the frame started. With one away, Brett Lindsay (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) singled and Robert Guenther (Falls Church, Va./George C. Marshall) walked to load the bases. After a passed ball and a wild pitch scored two, the Royals found themselves down only one with one out in the inning, threatening to tie up the score. 

Eagles' closer Tucker Hrasky, who took over in the eighth, notched the final two outs, leaving the tying run stranded on third and earning his fifth save of the year. 

When the dust settled, the Royals found themselves with a season split with the Eagles, falling by the final score of 6-5. 

Jordan Jones (Saxe, Va./Randolph Henry) and Lindsay each collected two hits for the Royals on the day. Sargent collected two RBI in his pinch hit appearance. 

Brendon Barrett (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes) earned the loss on the mound for the Royals after allowing five runs, two of them being earned, in 3.0 innings pitched. Riddick threw 4.0 innings of one-run ball. 

The Diamond Royals look to bounce back on Saturday, Apr. 17, hosting nationally-ranked Randolph-Macon in an ODAC doubleheader.