Despite a ninth-inning comeback attempt, the Diamond Royals fell on the road to the Shenandoah Hornets, 11-8.

The Royals fall to 5-5 with the loss and the Hornets improve to 13-3 overall, 10-2 in conference play. 

Shenandoah took an early lead in the game, pushing across two in the first inning with a homerun from Frankie Ritter and an RBI single from Pearce Bucher. 

After pushing across one more in the second, the Hornets were out to a quick 3-0 lead over the Royals. 

In the top of the fourth, the Royals answered with Jaylon Lee (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) homering to put EMU on the board. In the next inning, EMU added on another to inch closer, with the score now 3-2. 

Shenandoah answered back, taking back those two runs with Keegan Woolford knocking a two-run homerun to push the Hornets back in front by three. 

Lee pushed across another run for the Royals in the top of the seventh with an RBI single.

Shenandoah exploded for six runs in their half of the frame, pushing the score out to 11-3 with two innings left to play. 

After a quiet top of the eighth, the Royals attempted to mount a comeback in the top of the ninth. Jordan Jones (Saxe, Va./Randolph Henry) knocked his first homerun of the year, scoring three to put a dent in the Hornets' lead. Brett Lindsay (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) knocked in two with a homerun of his own, pushing the score to 11-8. 

The Royals' comeback attempt would be stopped there, finalizing the score at where it stood, 11-8 in favor of Shenandoah. 

Jones notched three RBI on the night, with Lee and Lindsay each accounting for two.

Adrian Abad (Naples, Va./Barron Collier) earned the loss on the mound after getting tacked with three earned runs on six hits in his two innings of work. 

The Diamond Royals are back at home on Saturday, Apr. 10, hosting the Guilford Quakers in an ODAC doubleheader.