The Royals wrapped up their baseball season at home on Saturday, splitting a doubleheader with playoff-bound Virginia Wesleyan College.
EMU finishes with a record of 16-21 overall, including 8-12 for eighth place in the ODAC. The 16 wins tied their win total from last year, which was the second-highest for the program since 2002. The eight conference victories is tied for second-most since 2001.
The Royals honored their five seniors in between the games on Saturday, as Patrick Love, Nic Love, Ryan Tierney, Aaron Hooven and Kyle Armstrong each played their final games in an EMU uniform. The Love brothers are right-side infielders who transferred to the program before the 2015 season, while Tierney is a four-year pitcher. Hooven pitched in 46 games in his three seasons, earning a career record of 8-7 with three saves. Armstrong started all 149 of EMU’s games the past four years, either in the outfield or on the mound. He set the record for most at-bats in a career in his final game, settling at 542. Armstrong leaves with a .332 career batting average, scoring 100 runs with 91 RBIs, while also pitching for a 10-7 career mark with two saves.
EMU 3, Virginia Wesleyan 2
Despite plenty of chances for each team, neither could score until VWC’s Nik Malvo hit a solo homerun to right in the fourth inning.
Joe Hall (Gladys, Va./Rustburg) led off the sixth with a single and took second on a sacrifice from Griffin Stanley (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring). Kyle Salladay (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) provided the clutch, two-out single to center, chasing in Hall to tie the score at 1-1.
The Marlins went right back in front in the seventh, getting a pair of two-out hits to plate a run. EMU nearly tied it in their next at-bat, but pinch runner Ian Norris (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem) was thrown out at home to end the inning, trying to score on Hall’s infield single.
The men finally broke through in the eighth, started by a leadoff single from Stanley. Zach Roberts (Stuarts Draft, Va./Riverheads) took his spot at first after reaching on a fielder’s choice and promptly stole second. He took third on a groundout, which was vital as he scored when VWC’s pitcher mishandled a comebacker from Kyle Armstrong (Greenville, Va./Riverheads). Ryan Hedrick (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) then followed with a double to right field, and Armstrong wheeled around from first to beat the relay and give EMU their first lead at 3-2.
Pitcher Aaron Hooven (Carroll, Va./Carroll County), who had entered in the seventh, threw a 1-2-3 ninth to wrap up the come-from-behind win.
Hooven only allowed a walk in 2.1 innings to improve to 4-3. Armstrong started on the mound and gave up two runs in 6.2 frames for a quality no decision.
The Royals had 11 hits, highlighted by Armstrong and Hall each getting two hits with a run scored. Stanley, Salladay and Hedrick each added a pair of hits as well.
Virginia Wesleyan 15, EMU 11
After the Senior Recognition ceremony between games, the second contest started with a thud as the Marlins scored four quick runs. EMU ran themselves out of a scoring chance in the third and Virginia Wesleyan sent up 10 batters as they exploded the lead to 10-0 in the fifth.
The men left the bases loaded in their half of the fifth, and VWC added one more in the sixth for an 11-0 edge.
The Royals finally got on the board in the seventh as the first five batters reached and two runs scored. With EMU’s second string players taking over in the eighth, the men sent 12 to the plate and mounted a big rally. They put together four hits, three walks and two hit batters to bring in six runs. Brandon Trujillo (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem) had a two-run single as the men got within 11-8.
Virginia Wesleyan squashed thoughts of a comeback by scoring another four runs in the top of the ninth to bump the edge back up to 15-8. The men didn’t give up, mounting a two-out rally in their final at-bat. David Meehan (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem) smacked a two-run double and Adam Marston (Woodstock Va./Miller School) added an RBI single, but a big strike zone ended the rally with two runners left on base.
Eastern Mennonite had 17 hits and nine walks in the second game, but also left 16 runners on base. A late-inning replacement, Trujillo finished 2-for-2 at the plate with two runs and two RBIs. Brendon Salladay (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) took over behind the plate late and was also 2-for-2, scoring twice with one RBI.
Starting pitcher Ryan Brewer (Martinsville, Va./Franklin County) took the loss to fall to 3-2. The freshman was nearly untouchable in his middle innings, but gave up five hits and all six of his runs combined in the first and fifth innings. Senior Ryan Tierney (Front Royal, Va./Warren County) threw 1.1 innings of scoreless relief, while Jimmy Miller (Port Republic, Va./Spotswood) the only other pitcher to not allow a run.