In 17 innings of baseball, the EMU Diamond Royals were only outscored by one run which was enough to give Penn St.-Harrisburg a win in game one and a tie in game two of Monday's doubleheader. Weather conditions prevented the originally scheduled doubleheaders from playing this past weekend.
EMU falls to 3-4-1 on the still young season as they get ready to host Southern Virginia on Wednesday, February 27 at 3:00pm.
Penn St.-Harrisburg 12, EMU 11
The Royals got off to a hot start in game one putting up five runs all with two outs in the first inning. Zach Roberts (Stuarts Draft, Va./Riverheads) tied the game at one with a solo home run to right center to jump start the offense. Brett Lindsay (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) and Ray Tricarico (Culpeper, Va./Eastern View) hit back-to-back singles to put two runners on for Jaylon Lee(Newport News, Va./Denbigh) who smacked a home run to left field to bring in three runs.
EMU would add one run in the second and third innings to take a 7-1 cushion into the fourth. The Lions responded with two runs in the top of the fourth and four in the top of the fifth to tie the game back up at seven.
Lindsay led off the bottom of the fifth getting hit by a pitch. Tricarico followed with a line drive to right center field that cleared the fence for a two-run home run putting the Royals back in front. EMU would add two more runs in the bottom of the sixth.
A single and a double brought in two more runs for Penn St. in the top of the seventh inning. Michael Wilhite (Hershey, Pa./Lower Dauphin) threw a scoreless eighth inning for the Royals and came out for the ninth looking for the save. After getting the leadoff batter out, the next five batters reached base to account for three runs giving the Lions a one run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
After allowing the leadoff batter to get on, Penn St. retired the next three batters to finish the game.
Roberts finished 3-6 with the home run and RBI. Lee went 2-5 with a double and home run scoring twice with 3 RBI. Tricarico went 2-4 with a home run and two RBI.
Penn St.-Harrisburg 7, EMU 7 – 8 innings
Game two ended in a decision that is not commonly seen in the sport of baseball, a tie. The game was cut short due to darkness with the score tied at seven after eight innings. This was only the 15th tie in program history with the most previous one occurring in the 2009 season.
The Lions got on the board first in the second inning after two walks came around to score on an error. Then a single brought two more runs in as Penn St.-Harrisburg took a three run lead.
Lee led off the bottom of the second inning with a triple and was brought home by a Corey Willis (Fredricksburg, Va./Massaponax) sacrifice fly to center field.
Both teams scored one run in the third inning before another two-out rally brought in more runs for EMU. Jacob Merica (Elkton, Va./East Rockingham) reached to lead off the inning and scored on a ball hit by Daniel Scott (Moneta, Va./Staunton River). Roberts followed with a RBI double then Lindsay with an RBI single to give the Royals a 5-4 advantage.
A leadoff double and two-run homer put the Lions back in front in the fifth inning. Riley Wesp (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes) entered the game in relief getting the Royals out of the fifth inning jam with a double-play then retired the next six batters to keep EMU within striking distance.
Tyler McFadden (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem) tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single that brought Lee around to score. Penn St.-Harrisburg was able to pitch themselves out of the seventh leaving the go ahead run on third base.
The Royals were able to get men on base in the bottom of the eighth inning, but were unable to bring them in to score as the game was finalized at the end of the inning.
Roberts and Lindsay both finished with two hits and an RBI. Lee was 1-2 with a triple, two walks, and scored three times.