After dropping a tight first game, the Royals bounced back in the nightcap at Emory & Henry, earning an ODAC split on Friday. 

After a tough stretch, the Royals make their way back into the win column with the split, moving their record to 6-11. The Wasps' record now sits at 5-13 overall, 4-13 in the ODAC. 

EMU 2, E&H 5

Emory & Henry got on the board quickly in the first game of the day with an RBI single from Hayden Milley in the first inning.

Both starters threw up scoreless innings until the top of the fourth, when the Royals tied up the score with an RBI single up the middle off of the bat of Ray Tricarico (Culpeper, Va./Eastern View), scoring Jaylon Lee (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) who singled earlier in the frame. 

The Wasps answered in their half of the inning, throwing up three runs to retake the lead. They added one more in the bottom of the fifth with a home run from Chandler Kezele to push the score to 5-1 through five innings of play. 

Lee knocked a solo home run in the top of the sixth to put a dent in the Wasps' lead, but that would be all the scoring the first game had to offer, as both teams settled down on the mound from there, finishing the first game of the day in Emory & Henry's favor, 5-2. 

Lee had three hits in the first game of the day, collecting an RBI with the home run. 

Brendon Barrett (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes) was charged with the loss, pitching 7.0 innings, allowing four earned runs, and notching eight strikeouts. 

Noah Griffin earned his first win for the Wasps with his start, collecting three strikeouts along the way. 

EMU 11, E&H 5

The Diamond Royals took the nightcap in offensive fashion, collecting 11 total runs on 14 hits. 

The Wasps took the early lead again, with Milley knocking a two-run home run in the bottom of the first. 

Lee tied up the contest in the top of the third with his second home run of the day, this time scoring two. 

Natty Solomon (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite/Hesston) kicked off the top of the fourth with a single and with the next two Royals getting out, it looked like the Royals were not going to cash him in. Jacob Merica (Elkton, Va./East Rockingham) came through, though, knocking an RBI-triple into the right-center gap to put the Royals ahead. Ethan Spraker (Vinton, Va./William Byrd) then doubled to the left-center gap, scoring Merica and putting the Royals ahead 4-2. 

EMU tacked on four more in the top of the fifth, highlighted by Billy Quinn's (Ashburg, Va./Stone Bridge) bases-clearing double to give the Royals a commanding lead at 8-2. 

Emory & Henry marched back in the bottom of the fifth on account of Milley's second home run of the game, pushing across three to put the Wasps within striking distance at 8-5. 

Brett Lindsay (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) knocked in a run in the top of the sixth to give the Royals some insurance. 

John Judy (Shanks, W.V./Hampshire) settled in on the mound from there, pitching four scoreless innings to finish out the complete game. 

Quinn led the offensive charge for the Royals in the nightcap, accounting for five RBI on two hits. 

Judy earned the win on the mound, pitching all 9.0 innings and earning seven strikeouts along the way. 

The Royals begin their final stretch of home games on Tuesday, Apr. 27, hosting Shenandoah in a mid-week ODAC contest with a start time slated for 4:00 pm.