ASHLAND, Va. – Junior Cole Migliorini (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) and sophomore Jeff Butler (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) both homered, scored three and knocked in two as the 13th-ranked Randolph-Macon baseball team defeated York 10-6 Thursday afternoon on Hugh Stephens Field at Estes Park.
The Yellow Jackets (22-7) tallied double-figure runs for the fifth straight game and extended their win streak to six. The Spartans fell to 15-13.
Migliorini was a triple short of the cycle, going 3 for 4 with a walk. Butler went 2 for 5 with a double and a dinger.
After York plated a run in the top of the first, R-MC answered in the bottom of the frame. Butler reached on an error with one away and moved to second on a fail pickoff attempt at first. Migliorini drew a two-out walk and both runners scored when senior Stuart Brown (Midlothian, Va./Trinity) blooped a double down the left field line to give the Yellow Jackets a 2-1 advantage. R-MC has outscored its opponents 45-7 in the first inning this season.
The Yellow Jackets added to their lead in the second. Senior Jay Patti (Sparks, Md./Hereford) had a leadoff single to second, was sacrificed to second by sophomore Ian Pape (Stafford, Va./North Stafford), moved to third on a base hit by freshman Zach Evans (Fort Mill, S.C./Seneca) and scored on an error to extend the lead to 3-1.
Migliorini had a leadoff double off the top of the fence in right in the third, advanced to third when Brown flew out to center and came home when senior Blake Saathoff (Catonsville, Md./Archbishop Spalding) singled off the shortstop's glove against a drawn-in infield to push the advantage to 4-1.
After York tallied two in the top of the fourth, R-MC put up its own crooked number in the bottom of the frame. Freshman Ryan Duphorn (Erial, N.J./Paul VI) had a one-out single and came around to score when Butler laced a double inside the third base bag. Butler moved to third on a base hit by junior Rick Spiers (South Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) and scored on a single by Migliorini. Spiers stole second, moved to third on Migliorini's base hit and scored on a Brown groundout to make it a 7-3 game. R-MC outscored York by one in each of the first four innings. The Yellow Jackets have outscored their opponents 147-52 in the first four frames this season.
Butler belted a leadoff homer in the sixth, his fourth long ball of the season, as the lead grew to 8-3. Spiers singled and scored on a base hit by Saathoff to push the advantage to 9-3.
York registered two runs in the seventh and one more in the eighth before Migliorini went deep in the bottom of the eighth, his eighth dinger of the season, to make the final 10-6.
Brown drove in three, Saathoff had two hits and two RBI, and Spiers had two hits and two runs for the Yellow Jackets.
Senior Nic Phelps (Richmond, Va./Mills Godwin) earned the victory, going 5.0 innings with seven hits, three runs, one earned run, one walk and one strikeout to even his record at 2-2.
Randolph-Macon hits the road for a noon ODAC doubleheader on Saturday, April 15 at Eastern Mennonite.