YORK, Pa. – Senior Nick Maiolo went 4 for 5 with a homer and four RBI as the sixth-ranked Randolph-Macon baseball team tied York 12-12 Thursday afternoon.
The Yellow Jackets (16-3-1) led 10-0 after two innings and 12-4 before the Spartans (6-14-1) scored eight in the eighth.
R-MC took a 15-12 lead in the top of the 10th, but the umpires called the game before the bottom of the 10th was completed. York had a runner on first with one out when the game was called.
R-MC came out of the gates swinging the bats. Sophomore Rick Spiers (South Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) had a leadoff single, stole second, advanced to third on a bunt single by senior Christian Sanderson (Lynchburg, Va./Jefferson Forest) and scored on a base hit by senior Travis Lodge (Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca). Maiolo belted a three-run homer to left, giving the Yellow Jackets a 4-0 lead.
The Yellow Jackets kept the offense going in the second. Freshman Jeffrey Butler (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) led off with a bunt single, moved to second when Spiers walked, went to third on a bunt single by Sanderson and came home when Lodge walked to make it 5-0. Maiolo and sophomore Cole Migliorini (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) had RBI singles to extend the lead to 7-0. Junior Herminio Azor (Fairfax, Va./Robinson) reached on an error, plating Lodge with the eighth run. JuniorStuart Brown (Midlothian, Va./Trinity) grounded out to drive in Maiolo and junior Jay Patti (Sparks, Md./Hereford) delivered a sacrifice fly to center to bring home Migliorini and make it 10-0.
After the Spartans (6-15) scored in the bottom of the third, R-MC answered in the fourth. Azor drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a two-out single by Butler to give the visitors an 11-1 advantage.
York tallied one in the fourth and two in the sixth to narrow the gap to 11-4 before Lodge led off the eighth with his eighth homer of the season to give the Yellow Jackets a 12-4 lead before the Spartan outburst in the bottom of the frame.
Lodge finished with two hits, three runs and three RBI.
Junior Nic Phelps started and went 5.0 innings with six hits, two runs, two walks and two strikeouts.
Randolph-Macon returns to action on Saturday, March 26, with a noon ODAC doubleheader against Eastern Mennonite.