SALEM, VA --- The Eastern Mennonite baseball team finished on a high note in Coach Ben Spotts' second season, splitting with Roanoke to end the year with four wins in five games. The men had the most victories in 12 years and just the 14th winning record in program history.
Roanoke 10, EMU 6
The Royals struggled to get their offense going in the opener, and trailed 3-0 after four innings. Brandon Carroll (Fredericksburg, Va./Stafford) led off the fifth with a single and the men were in business. Conner Smith (Chesapeake, Va./Oscar Smith) followed with a double to bring home Carroll, and he later scored on a bases loaded fielder's choice.
The teams then traded single runs to leave the Maroons in front 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth. RC then put together five hits, including a two-out grand slam, to score six times and balloon the lead to 10-3.
The Royals kept pushing, but could only plate three more runs in their final three at-bats to suffer the loss.
Carroll finished with three of EMU's 11 hits and added a walk. The third baseman also had an RBI and a run. Smith was 2-5 with two RBIs and a run scored. Adam Posey (Poquoson, Va./Poquoson) also had a pair of singles and Ian Norris (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem) singled and walked in two plate appearances, scoring both times.
Aaron Hooven (Carroll, Va./Carroll) gave up four runs in 5.0 innings and fell to 3-2 with the loss. The bullpen gave up the final six runs.
EMU 3, Roanoke 1
The Royals got a milestone win in the nightcap. Pitchers Jacob Brown (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) and Brett Whitlow (Mechanicsville, Va./Hanover) combined for a five-hitter to give the offense enough time to score, despite leaving 10 runners on base.
The Maroons scored their only run in the third, stringing together three this, all with two outs.
Norris was thrown out at home trying to score on a single in the fifth, but EMU finally got a run in the sixth. Jonathan Estrada (Miami, Fla./Doral Academy) led off with a double and came in on a single from Ryan Hedrick (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby).
Two innings later the men took the lead. Estrada again led off with a hit and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Kyle Armstrong (Greenville, Va./Riverheads). Hedrick lined a single up the middle to bring in Estrada and make it 2-1. After Norris was hit by a pitch, Smith put another single over second to plate the third run.
Whitlow was virtually untouchable in relief, retiring 12 of the 13 Maroons he faced, including the final 10. He earned his first collegiate win for the stellar performance, while Brown got a quality no decision.
The offense collected 13 hits as each starter had at least one. Estrada was 2-5 with two runs scored in his final game, and Hedrick finished 2-4 with two RBIs. Norris was 2-2 from the plate while Joe Hall (Rustburg, Va./Rustburg) also had a pair of singles.
Estrada's fellow seniors, Posey and Ryan McAlister (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby), each reached base in their final game as well. Posey was 1-4 with a walk while McAlister laced a double.
Eastern Mennonite closes the 2014 season with a record of 20-19 overall and 6-14 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. While the Royals finished with the most wins in a season since going 29-13 in 2002, they also finished over .500 for the first time since that same year. That second fete is the more impressive of the two, as a Royals team hasn't charted a winning percentage above .393 in that span. It's also just the third 20-win season in the 46-year history of the program. The other two were both during the Erik Kratz era – 23 in 2001 and 29 in 2002.