SALEM, Va. – Bridgewater College closed out its baseball regular season Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader split against Roanoke College. The Eagles won the opener 8-3 before the losing the second game, 10-3.
Bridgewater finished with a 12-8 record in conference play to secure the No. 4 seed in next week's ODAC tournament. The Eagles are 23-11-1 overall.
With the victory in Game 2, the Maroons also secured a spot in the ODAC tournament as the No. 5 seed with an 11-9 record.
The Eagles used a strong start on the mound by lefty Ryan Leake to jump out to an early lead in the opener. Leake worked the first six innings and allowed no runs on just two hits.
Bridgewater took the lead with a pair of runs in the second. Brendan Howell, the first batter of the inning, was hit by a pitch and Bay Liskey followed with a single to left. Howell was retired at third on Brandon Poole's grounder for the first out of the inning. Cavin Clyde singled to load the sacks and Hunter Hensley followed with a single to right, scoring Liskey with the game's first run. Poole then scored on Derrik Walling's groundout for a 2-0 Bridgewater lead.
Bridgewater added another run in the third to lead 3-0. Darren Yoder doubled to lead off the inning, but was caught in a rundown on Kenner Berry's grounder back to the mound for the first out of the inning. Yoder stayed in the rundown long enough for Berry to reach second and Berry then scored on Howell's single to left, making the score 3-0.
Bridgewater padded its lead with three more runs in the fifth. Yoder was hit by a pitch to start the inning and he moved to third on Howell's one-out single. With two outs, Poole reached on an error and Yoder scored on the play, making the score 4-0. Clyde followed with a two-run triple to center, giving Bridgewater a 6-0 lead.
Roanoke got all of its runs in the seventh against Eagles reliever Justin Petock. Clark Crutchfield walked to lead off the inning and Danny Creel followed with a single. Lucas Nowlin then belted a three-run homer to center, cutting the BC lead in half, 6-3.
The Eagles added single runs in the eighth and ninth to increase the margin to 8-3. Walling hit a solo homer in the eight for a 7-3 Eagles lead. In the ninth Kenner Berry singled with one out and advanced to third on a single by Howell. Berry scored on a wild pitch, making the score 8-3.
Petock blanked the Maroons over the final two innings to record the three-inning save.
The Eagles finished the opener with 12 hits. Howell and Clyde accounted for half of that total with three hits each.
Bridgewater led 2-1 early in the second game before a seven-run outburst in the fourth put the Maroons in control.
The Eagles wasted little time in getting on the board in Game 2 as Walling led off with a triple and scored on a wild pitch.
Roanoke tied the score in the bottom of the first. A walk to Will Black and a single by Brian Kluge put two runners on. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up, Eagles' starter Chad Lenz hit Cal Hodgert with a pitch to load the bases. Will Decker then walked, forcing in Block to tie the score at 1-1.
Bridgewater regained the lead with a run in the third. Poole led off with a single and stole second. Poole moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch, giving BC a 2-1 lead.
The Maroons took control of the contest with seven runs in the fourth. Creel led off with a double and moved to third on a hit by Anthony Teixeira. Creel scored on a wild pitch to tie the score at 2-2. After Ross Strickland walked, Roanoke grabbed a 3-2 lead when Teixeira scored on a single by Black. After a double steal on the bases, Strickland scored on Kluge's fielder's choice grounder for a 4-2 Maroons lead. After Black scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-2, Roanoke ended the inning with back-to-back jacks to take a six-run lead. Decker belted a two-run shot to center and Joe Larimer followed with a solo blast to right, giving the Maroons an 8-2 lead.
After Roanoke added a run in the sixth, the Eagles threatened to make some noise in the seventh. Poole belted a solo homer to make the score 9-3 and the Eagles then loaded the bases with one out. Roanoke pitcher Boonewell Hagy worked out of the jam by retiring the next two batters to end the threat.