BRIDGEWATER, VA --- All it took was one inning for Eastern Mennonite's great effort to turn into a loss Wednesday afternoon.  Bridgewater College scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh to get in front of the Royals, as EMU was saddled with a loss despite giving the second-place Eagles all they could handle.

Reliever Aaron Hooven was given the ball for his first start, and responded by keeping BC at bay.  But Eastern Mennonite struggled just as much against the Eagles' Nick Corbin.

Bridgewater ended up scoring first, getting a solo homerun in the fourth.  Another solo shot in the fifth made it 2-0.

Ryan McAlister (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby), who grew up less than a mile from BC's campus, doubled to lead off EMU's sixth, and the Royals rallied.  After an Eagle error, Kyle Mathews hit an RBI single.  Kyle Salladay knocked an RBI double to tie the score.  And with two outs, Conner Smith hit a single down the right field line to bring home two more runs and vault EMU into the lead, 4-2.

The Eagles got their third solo shot in the sixth, to get within one.  Then in the seventh, the floodgates opened for the home team.  BC rattled off five hits and a walk, all with two outs, to chase Hooven.  They scored five times, including the final two runs on their fourth homer of the game, to go up 8-4.

EMU could only manage one runner over their final two chances.

Hooven (3-1) pitched 6.2 innings and was tagged with six of the runs as he suffered his first loss of the year.

McAlister was the only Royal with multiple hits, as he finished 2-5 with a run.  Mathews was 1-3 with a walk, run and RBI.  Smith had two RBIs with his only hit.

The Royals are 15-17 after the defeat, including 3-12 in ODAC play.  They step out of the conference tomorrow for a game at Southern Virginia.  Start time is 4:00pm.