ASHLAND, Va. – Freshman leadoff hitter Ryan Duphorn (Erial, N.J./Paul VI) had two hits, three walks and five runs, and sophomore Jeff Butler (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) drove in four as the 16th-ranked Randolph-Macon baseball team outscored No. 23 Christopher Newport 12-9 Tuesday afternoon on Hugh Stephens Field at Estes Park.
The Yellow Jackets improved to 18-7 and snapped the 13-game win streak of the Captains (22-10).
R-MC started the scoring in the bottom of the first. Duphorn drew a leadoff walk, stole second, was sacrificed to third by Butler and scored on a sacrifice fly by junior Rick Spiers (South Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) to give the Yellow Jackets the early lead. Junior Cole Migliorini (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) earned a two-out walk, stole second and came home on a single to center by senior Stuart Brown (Midlothian, Va./Trinity) to give R-MC a 2-0 advantage.
After CNU tied it with two in the second, the top of the order started another rally for the Yellow Jackets in the third. Duphorn led off with a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a double by Spiers to make it 3-2. With two away, Brown singled home Spiers to raise the advantage to 4-2. Brown scored on a double by junior Joseph Tuzzolo (Newport News, Va./Menchville), and Tuzzolo came in on a single by senior Jay Patti (Sparks, Md./Hereford) to give the home team a 6-2 lead.
R-MC posted an add-on run in the fourth. Duphorn had a one-out single, stole second, moved to third on a throwing error and scored on a base hit by Butler to extend the lead to 7-2.
Butler had a three-run double in the fifth as the advantage grew to 10-2 for R-MC.
The Captains battled back, plating two in the sixth and five in the eighth to pull with one at 10-9. Junior Christian Cok (Chester, S.C./Lewisville) was on the mound with the tying run at third and one away in the eighth. He got a foul out to the catcher and a strikeout as R-MC was able to maintain the lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, Duphorn had a leadoff single, was sacrificed to second by Butler and scored on Migliorini's seventh home run of the season as the Yellow Jackets took a 12-9 advantage to the ninth.
Spiers took the mound in the ninth and retired CNU in order with one strikeout to record his fifth save. Freshman Matthew Nickles (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) earned the win, going 6.0 innings with six hits and four runs (three earned) with one walk and four strikeouts.
Butler went 2 for 3 with two sacrifice hits and four RBI. Migliorini, Brown and Tuzzollo each drove in a pair for the Yellow Jackets.
Randolph-Macon is scheduled to play at Methodist tomorrow evening at 6 p.m.