EMORY, Va. - Senior Michael Trentham (Midlothian, Va./James River) went 6 for 12 with five runs and seven RBI as the second-ranked Randolph-Macon baseball team swept an ODAC doubleheader at Emory & Henry Saturday afternoon.
The Yellow Jackets (28-6-1, 14-6 ODAC) won the opener 22-1 before claiming the nightcap 19-7. R-MC set a program record for victories in a season with 28, surpassing the previous record of 26 set a season ago.
R-MC secured the second seed in the upcoming 2016 ODAC Championship. The Yellow Jackets will open tourney play on Thursday, April 28, at 2:30 p.m. against No. 5 Virginia Wesleyan at City Stadium in Lynchburg, Va. R-MC swept the season series with the Marlins, winning 16-15 in Ashland and 10-1 in Virginia Beach.
Senior James Walsh (Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee) allowed one hit in six innings in Game 1 with no walks and 10 strikeouts to raise his record to 9-0. He faced one batter over the minimum. Freshman Jake Ottinger (Glen Allen, Va./Benedictine) worked the final three frames with four hits, one unearned run, no walks and one punchout for his first save.
R-MC had four big innings, scoring three in the fourth, five in the fifth, five in the seventh and nine in the eighth.
Trentham had an RBI groundout to start the scoring in the fourth, followed by run-scoring singles off the bats of junior Herminio Azor (Fairfax, Va./Robinson) and senior Michael Kroll (Virginia Beach, Va./Cape Henry) as the Yellow Jackets took a 3-0 lead.
In the fifth, Trentham had an RBI single and freshman Jeffrey Butler (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) capped the five-run outburst with a two-run double as R-MC pushed the advantage to 8-0.
Seniors Christian Sanderson (Lynchburg, Va./Jefferson Forest) and Nick Maiolo (Powhatan, Va./Powhatan) both had run-scoring single in the five-run seventh as the visitors built a 13-0 lead.
In the eighth, Trentham delivered a two-run single and Kroll added a two-run double in the nine-run outburst as R-MC led 22-1.
Kroll went 3 for 4 with two walks, three runs and three RBI; Butler drove in four; Trentham had three hits, three runs and four RBI; and Sanderson added three hits, three runs and two RBI for the Yellow Jackets.
In the nightcap, the Wasps took the early lead with a run in the first. R-MC would answer in the third as senior Stuart Brown (Midlothian, Va./Trinity) had a one-out double, moved to third on a wild pitch and came home on a second wild pitch to knot the score at 1-1.
The Yellow Jackets would take the lead an inning later as sophomore Cole Migliorini (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) drove in senior Mitchell Keeler (Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee) with a single to make it a 2-1 contest.
Sanderson singled home Azor in the fourth as R-MC led 3-1.
The Yellow Jackets would score multiple runs over the next four innings. Brown had a two-run single to highlight a four-run fifth. Senior Travis Lodge (Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) had a leadoff homer and Migliorini added a two-run shot in the sixth as the lead grew to 10-1. Maiolo launched a three-run homer to highlight a five-run seventh in a 15-1 contest. Trentham had a three-run triple and scored in the eighth as it became a 19-2 game before E&H put up five in the bottom of the ninth.
Brown went 5 for 6 with three runs and four RBI; Migliorini went 4 for 5 with four runs and three RBI; Trentham went 3 for 6 with two runs and three RBI; Maiolo had three hits, three runs and three RBI; and Keeler had three hits and three runs for R-MC.
Sophomore Rick Spiers (South Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) picked up the win to even his record at 4-4, going 5.0 innings with five hits, one run, one walk and six strikeouts.