The EMU Diamond Royals won a close conference game on the road at Washington and Lee by a score of 6-5 Wednesday afternoon. The win gives the men their first conference win bumping their record to 1-2 in ODAC play and 7-9-1 overall.
The Royals stay on the road this weekend as they travel to Lynchburg to take on the Hornets in a doubleheader on Saturday, March 16 beginning at noon.
EMU failed to get a runner on base first time through the lineup while the Generals put up two runs in the second inning on a two-run double by Chadwick Feeley.
From there on starting pitcher Connor Lutz (Colonial Beach, Va./Colonial Beach) settled in on the mound throwing six innings giving up three runs, one of which earned with two strikeouts as he earned his first win of the season.
Corey Willis (Fredricksburg, Va./Massaponax) led off the fifth inning with a single then stole second base. After a groundball moved Willis to third, Robert Guenther (Falls Church, Va./George C. Marshall) hit a sacrifice fly to bring in the run to cut the deficit in half.
The sixth inning was a turning point in the game as EMU used four hits to score four runs in the inning. A single by Matt Curry (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) got things rolling as he scored on an RBI single by Zach Roberts (Stuarts Draft, Va./Riverheads). After Brett Lindsay (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) walked, Jaylon Lee (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) droved in Roberts with an RBI single to left field. Then Willis went the opposite way to right field to drive in Lindsay.
A double steal moved Lee and Willis up a base to third and second giving John Judy (Shanks, W.V./Hampshire) the ability to bring in Lee on a ground ball for the fourth run. Both teams would trade a run in the seventh inning to keep it at a three-run difference.
Washington and Lee came close to tying the game in the ninth inning after loading the bases with one out. Two RBI singles brought in two runs while having the tying run thrown out at home plate by a throw from Daniel Scott (Moneta, Va./Staunton Rive) from right field. Judy retired the next batter for the final out as he earned the save.
Riley Wesp (Virginia Beach, Va/Ocean Lakes) threw two innings of scoreless relief for the Royals giving up just one hit while striking out two.
Willis finished 2-4 with an RBI and run scored. Jordan Jones (Saxe, Va./Randolph Henry) went 2-4 out of the leadoff spot scoring once.