LEXINGTON, VA --- The Eastern Mennonite baseball men made the plays when they needed them, earning their first conference win Thursday afternoon with a 7-4 victory at Washington and Lee in Lexington, Va.

Brandon Carroll (Fredericksburg, Va./Stafford) quickly put EMU in front with an RBI single in the first, but the Generals took advantage of three Royals' errors in the bottom of the frame to skip ahead 2-1.

W&L had their own defensive lapse in the third.  Aided by three errors, Eastern Mennonite scored three times, all with two outs, to re-take the lead at 4-2.  The Generals got an unearned run in the bottom of the frame, but EMU plated two more two-out runs in the fifth to open up a 6-3 cushion.

Yet another unearned run in the eighth pushed the lead to 7-3.  Washington and Lee connected on three straight singles with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to plate a run.  But closer Kyle Salladay (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) entered with the tying run at the plate and struck out his man for the final out.

The Royals rattled of 14 hits, including 13 singles, as each starting position player had at least one hit.  Kyle Mathews (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge) finished 3-5 with two runs and an RBI.  Ryan McAlister (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) had a couple of hits and scored twice.  Salladay was 3-5 with two RBIs, and Carroll finished with one hit, walk, RBI and run scored.

Kyle Armstrong (Greenville, Va./Riverheads) started on the hill but was chased after 4.0 innings.  He was charged with three runs, although only one was earned.  Aaron Hooven (Carroll, Va./Carroll) gave up one run in 4.2 innings and improved to 2-0 with the win.  Salladay struck out his only batter faced for his third save.

The Royals snap a seven-game losing skid with the win and also notched their first Old Dominion Athletic Conference victory.  At 13-12 and 1-8 in the ODAC, EMU will try to improve their record against Lynchburg on Saturday, with the doubleheader starting at noon.