RICHMOND, Va. - Junior Colin Selby (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) hurled five hitless innings with 10 strikeouts in the nightcap after junior Nick Roth (Henrico, Va./Benedictine) allowed three hits in five scoreless frames in Game 1, as the 18th-ranked Randolph-Macon baseball team swept a season-opening doubleheader from RPI Sunday afternoon at The Diamond.
The Yellow Jackets (2-0) took the opener 3-1 and claimed the nightcap 5-3 against the Engineers (0-2).
Selby (1-0) rolled three ground-ball outs in the first, then struck out the next nine hitters. He notched his 10th punchout in the fifth before allowing a two-out walk for his lone base-runner. He got a grounder to third to end the inning and his day.
R-MC started the scoring in the first as sophomore Ryan Duphorn (Erial, N..J./Paul VI) had a leadoff single, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by junior Jeff Butler (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch). In the second, senior Joseph Tuzzolo (Newport News, Va./Menchville) and sophomore Michael Nickles (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) drew consecutive one-out walks and both came home on a double by sophomore Zach Evans (Fort Mill, S.C./Seneca (NJ)) to give the Yellow Jackets a 3-0 advantage. Senior Cole Migliorini (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) had a one-out triple in the third and scored on a double by senior Rick Spiers (South Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) as the advantage grew to 4-0.
The Engineers rallied for three in the eighth and put the tying run on second with two outs. Senior Christian Cok (Chester, S.C./Lewisville) fanned the first hitter he faced to keep it a one-run contest.
The Yellow Jackets added an insurance run in the eighth as Migliorini drew a one-out walk, advanced to third on a wild pickoff throw to first and came home on a sacrifice fly by Spiers to make it a 5-3 contest. Cok recorded two strikeouts and a groundout in the ninth to register his first save.
In Game 1, Roth (1-0) scattered three hits over five innings with no walks and five strikeouts. Senior Cody Thompson (Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee) allowed one hit and fanned three over the final two frames to pick up the save.
All three R-MC runs came on two-out rallies. In the third, Butler had a two-out single, advanced to third on a base hit by Migliorini and scored on a single by Spiers to make it 1-0. One inning later, Nickles had a two-out double and came home on a base hit by Evans to extend the lead to 2-0. In the sixth, Evans had a two-out single and eventually scored when Migliorini was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to push the advantage to 3-0. RPI tallied its lone run in the seventh.
Butler reached base four times with two singles, one walk and one hit batsman. Evans had two hits, one run and one RBI.
Randolph-Macon is scheduled to host Marymount on Wednesday, Feb 21 at 2 p.m. on Hugh Stephens Field at Estes Park.