This was uncharted territory for the modern era of EMU baseball. While the Diamond Royals have tasted playoff baseball, there has not been a postseason victory since 2002. That is, until last weekend, when the Royals shook the nation and topped nationally-ranked Randolph-Macon College in the ODAC quarterfinals to find themselves moving forward to the ODAC semifinals.

The challenges were not over for EMU, though, as their next opponent was yet another nationally recognized team with the Shenandoah Hornets.

This did not frighten the Royals, who showed up to Bridgeforth Field in Winchester full of confidence and knowing that they deserved to be there. Exclamations of "we're not leaving" could be heard from the players, who did their pregame routines and rituals just like any other game.

When it was finally game time, outfielder Jordan Jones (Saxe, Va./Randolph Henry), who was an All-ODAC selection earlier in the week, dug himself into the plate to make a significant stride for the Eastern Mennonite baseball program. The stride may have seemed small in the grand scheme of the day, but it was there: the Royals were in the semifinals.

Jones quickly knocked a single to start the frame and the EMU players and their families in the stand all went into a collective semi-hysteric in excitement. From there, the Royals scored the first run of the day.

While the rest of the game did not go quite as planned for the Royals, who ultimately fell by a score of 12-1, the excitement never faltered from the Royals and their families. With each inning, a new opportunity presented itself for the Royals to make ground, and no matter the outcome, cheers were heard.

In between games, despite coming up on the losing side in the first contest, the confidence was still stretched across the Diamond Royals. They had been in this position before today, so fear was not in their mind.

With the second game minutes away, the same excitement loomed over the crowd, as the starting lineup ran on the field. Head coach Adam Posey gave the ball to Brendon Barrett (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes), who was coming off of a clutch, significant complete game performance just a week ago.

Shenandoah threatened in the top frame of the first inning with two on and one out. Barrett settled in during the frame, striking out the cleanup hitter for the Hornets and getting the next batter to ground out to end the frame.

The first two innings went scoreless, before the Hornets pushed three across in the top of the third to take the lead 3-0.

EMU began fighting from there, starting with an RBI single from Billy Quinn (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge), scoring Brett Lindsay (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) in the bottom of the fourth to chip into the lead 3-1.

Despite two more Hornets coming across in the top of the sixth, the Royals continued to fight back, answering with two of their own highlighted by an RBI triple from Ray Tricarico (Culpeper, Va./Eastern View) pushing the score to 5-3 heading into the final three innings of play.

Ethan Spraker (Vinton, Va./William Byrd) led off the bottom of the seventh with a screaming double off of the wall. After Jones moved him over to third, Jaylon Lee (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) produced. He hit a deep fly ball to right field, scoring Spraker from third easily and put the Royals within one.

The Hornets tacked on two more in the top of the eighth to put the score at 7-4, but despite the blow, the Royals continued to keep up excitement in the ball park, knowing that anything can happen.

After a scoreless top of the ninth from Gage Riddick (Gates County, N.C./Gates County), the Diamond Royals went into the bottom of ninth down three, but ready to continue their run. 

Down to the last out, Spraker reached on a sharp single through the left side, but that would be the end of the offense for EMU, as they fell in the second game by a close margin of 7-4, ending their historic postseason run.

The sting of the loss was felt around the EMU side of the ballpark, but yet there was still that feeling of accomplishment. The Diamond Royals deserved to be in this spot and they knew it.

"If you judge a season just on if you win or lose the last game of the season, you're missing the point," Head Coach Adam Posey stated after the loss.

The Royals' season had its highs and its lows, losing tight games and coming up big when it was needed. There were guys that stepped into roles late in the season that were earned through sheer dedication and continuing to work through the hardships.

"It speaks to their character," Posey stated, who is in his second season at the helm for the Royals. "They come here and play for a young, first-year coach and bought in all the way. To see them have success is something to be really proud of."

From here, Posey moves on to the next season, but understands the importance of the steps that his program has taken forward.

"While we lost the last game we played, for us it is a season we can build on and those guys have made their mark on our program and have helped it move forward," Posey said.

After the Royals jump off the bus when they make it back to Harrisonburg and head home for the summer, a majority will come back and move on to the next season, but the lasting effect of this year's specific team and the run that they put forward will be felt on the EMU baseball field and within the program as a whole.

The bar has been set a little higher this year yet again for the Diamond Royals.