For immediate release – 4/11/2015 – #402
Hornets Split Crucial ODAC Double Dip with No. 15 R-MC, Control Tournament Destiny

ASHLAND, VA – The Lynchburg College baseball team fell to one of the top teams in the nation as No. 15 Randolph-Macon College utilized a dominant pitching performance and timely hitting to capture game one 13-1 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) action Saturday, before the Hornets responded for a 13-2 game two victory.

Lynchburg continued its recent hot start in the top of the first, but Randolph-Macon settled in to prove why the Yellow Jackets are so dangerous. Drew Taylor led off the game with a single to left off R-MC starter James Walsh. Taylor flew around the bases on Wil Parsons' double to deep left to plate the game's first run. Walsh struck out the next three Hornets he faced to end the top of the frame.

Randolph-Macon took the lead in the bottom of the first when Nate Meiners, who walked, scored on Nick Maiolo's long blast over the left-field wall.

The Yellow Jackets collected nine hits to add two more runs in the second, a pair in the third, and three in the fourth to carry a commanding 9-1 lead into the fifth inning.

Walsh (4-1) settled into the contest on the mound, allowing just one Hornet hit the rest of the way after the Parsons double in the first. He finished the matinee having allowed just one run on three hits while striking out 12 and walking one in eight innings.

Wil Parsons had two of Lynchburg's three hits in game one.

Lynchburg turned the tides on the Yellow Jackets in game two, keeping ODAC tournament hopes alive in the process.

Zack Engelmann (1-0) was the star on the mound for the Hornets in his first career start. The sophomore threw seven innings of two-run ball, allowing seven hits while striking out two and not issuing a walk.

Lynchburg took the lead with two runs in the second inning before Jonathan Munn crushed his second homer of the year, this of the two-run variety, to assume a 4-0 lead in the third. Munn added an RBI single in the third for a 5-0 advantage.

The Hornets pulled away on a pair of crooked, three-run innings, including a three-run round tripper from Luke Rodgers in the sixth. In all, Lynchburg scored in seven of the nine innings in game two while posting 16 hits and drawing six walks.

Munn went 3-for-6 in game two with four RBI and two runs scored while Rodgers went 3-for-4 with four RBI. Joe Rogers, Joe Tomasulo, and Parsons had two hits each in the nightcap.

Lynchburg victimized Randolph-Macon's (19-7/10-7) Rick Spiers (5-2), one of the best statistical pitchers in the ODAC, for five runs (four earned) in four innings.

Lynchburg (12-18/7-8) hosts Hampden-Sydney College (10-19-1/7-10) in an ODAC matchup with huge tournament implications Tuesday at 3 p.m.

ODAC Tournament Update:

Saturday started with the final three spots in the ODAC tournament as follows:
#6 - Hampden-Sydney
#7 - Lynchburg
#8 - Eastern Mennonite

Hampden-Sydney and Lynchburg both dropped game one of Saturday's doubleheaders, while EMU won to move into the sixth and final spot temporarily.

Bridgewater swept Hampden-Sydney on the afternoon, while Lynchburg won game two and EMU lost its nightcap. This gives Lynchburg the final spot and control of its own destiny. The six seeds, with a week to go, are currently:

#1 - Shenandoah
#2 - Virginia Wesleyan
#3 - Bridgewater
#4 - Randolph-Macon
#5 - Roanoke
#6 - Lynchburg

EMU is 0.5 games behind Lynchburg and Hampden-Sydney is 1.0 game back heading into the final week of play.