{"id":19868,"date":"2014-04-11T14:46:58","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T18:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=19868"},"modified":"2014-04-22T15:35:02","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T19:35:02","slug":"win-over-svu-gives-royals-most-wins-in-12-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/win-over-svu-gives-royals-most-wins-in-12-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals finish 2014 baseball season with most wins in 12 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When the dust settled after a flurry of action over the final two innings on April 10, EMU&#8217;s baseball men had taken down Southern Virginia 9-5 and logged a very important win.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Royals improved to 16-17 with that road decision, giving them the most wins in a season since 2002.\u00a0<\/strong>The team finished the season nine days later at 20-19 overall.<\/p>\n<p>For perspective, <strong>the 2002 team, which ended the season 29-13, featured star senior Erik Kratz, a current player in the Toronto Blue Jays system<\/strong> behind the plate. In\u00a02013, Kratz was a <a href=\"\/now\/news\/2013\/03\/emu-alum-erik-kratz-is-catching-a-dream\/\">starting catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies<\/a>. While at EMU, Kratz was named Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Player of the Year twice and finished his EMU career with the NCAA record 75 doubles.<\/p>\n<p>The Royals have seen their win total rise over the past two years under the guidance of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/coaches\/benspotts\">head coach Ben Spotts<\/a>. EMU won 15 games in 2013 after totaling 11 wins the previous three seasons (2010-12). <strong>The 20 wins earned this year are the most earned since the 2002 team collected 29 wins en route to a fourth-place finish in the ODAC.<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_19959\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19959\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/04\/baseball2014.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19959\" alt=\"EMU baseball student-athletes\" src=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/04\/baseball2014.jpg\" width=\"610\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/04\/baseball2014.jpg 610w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/04\/baseball2014-300x131.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19959\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Freshman Ryan Hedrick (No. 9) and senior Jonathan Estrada (No. 24) were instrumental in EMU&#8217;s success this season. They are pictured here during an April 18 home game against Bridgewater College. (Photo by Sarah Carpenter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Stand-out players during the April 10, 2014 game that tipped the season&#8217;s win-loss balance over .500:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/2013-14\/bios\/mcalister_ryan_ak65\">Ryan McAlister<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Bridgewater, Va.\/Turner Ashby) wrapped up the scoring with a two-run single<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/2013-14\/bios\/estrada_jonathan_3ldx\">Jonathan Estrada<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Miami, Fla.\/Doral Academy)\u00a0batted 4-5<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/2013-14\/bios\/posey_adam_4xh7\">Adam Posey<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Poquoson, Va.\/Poquoson) scored twice<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/2013-14\/bios\/hedrick_ryan_ekww\">Ryan Hedrick<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Bridgewater, Va.\/Turner Ashby) had two doubles and two runs<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/2013-14\/bios\/meehan_david_ix9r\">David Meehan<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Virginia Beach, Va.\/Salem) smacked two doubles<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/2013-14\/bios\/smith_conner_ltjv\">Conner Smith<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Chesapeake, Va.\/Oscar Smith) scored twice<\/li>\n<li>Starting pitcher\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/2013-14\/bios\/brown_jacob_e4j3\">Jacob Brown<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Gloucester, Va.\/Gloucester) threw 6.0+ scoreless innings to improve to 2-3<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/2013-14\/bios\/henschel_ryan_dxdw\">Ryan Henschel<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(New Market, Va.\/Stonewall Jackson) tossed scoreless ball for two innings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These and other players kept the momentum going the last few games of the season, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/2013-14\/releases\/201404186x6hh2\">snapping a 15-game losing streak to the Bridgewater College Eagles<\/a> and then <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/2013-14\/releases\/20140419ltto45\">rallying from a 10-6 loss to Roanoke College to defeat them later that day 3-1<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/royalsathlete\/2013-14\/ryanmcalister414\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19956 alignnone\" alt=\"EMU Senior Ryan McAlister is the Royals Athlete of the Week\" src=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/04\/Ryan-McAlister-royal-senior.jpg\" width=\"610\" height=\"268\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/04\/Ryan-McAlister-royal-senior.jpg 610w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/04\/Ryan-McAlister-royal-senior-300x131.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/royalsathlete\/2013-14\/ryanmcalister414\">Senior Ryan McAlister<\/a>\u00a0 was recognized as the Royals &#8220;Athlete of the Week&#8221; on April 21.<\/p>\n<h3>Learning to lead through hardship<\/h3>\n<p><strong>McAlister was a consistent starter for the baseball team all four of his years at EMU.<\/strong> \u00a0He was a key player this spring in lifting the team above .500 to a winning record. McAlister played\u00a0the best game of his career on Senior Saturday, April 12, when he batted 5-for-6 with three runs and three RBIs in an exciting 18-8 victory over Virginia Wesleyan College. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/2013-14\/schedule\">See the schedule and results for the 2014 baseball season<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_19963\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19963\" style=\"width: 93px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/04\/baseball-coach-ben-spotts.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19963\" alt=\"Eastern Mennonite University baseball coach Ben Spotts\" src=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/04\/baseball-coach-ben-spotts.jpg\" width=\"93\" height=\"140\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19963\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">EMU baseball coach Ben Spotts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201c[Coach Spotts] always tells us that he\u2019s a winner and we can be winners, too,\u201d said Ryan. \u00a0\u201cIt was easy to get behind the coach and buy into the winning plan he brought to us, because he has a lot of knowledge, experience and success in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ryan admits that his first two years on the EMU baseball team were tough &#8211; the team struggled with a losing record &#8211; but he says he would not trade that experience for anything. \u00a0<strong>Being a starter for his team for four years helped him play a more prominent role on his team and become a vocal leader, he says.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a freshman, I led by example. \u00a0I did things the right way. \u00a0I played the game hard,\u201d Ryan explained. \u00a0\u201cAnd as I started to gain more experience and the seniors started to graduate, I became more vocal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With plans to finish classes in December, the <a href=\"\/pe\/\">sports and recreational leadership major<\/a> says he really appreciates the small class sizes that EMU offers and the relationships he has built with his professors.<\/p>\n<h3>Learn more about EMU student-athletes<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/admissions\/campus-life\/student-athletes\/\">Become a student-athlete at EMU<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a style=\"line-height: 1.5em\" href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/index\">Read more on the 2014 EMU baseball season<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/bsb\/records.pdf\">Check out the EMU baseball record book<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the dust settled after a flurry of action over the final two innings on April 10, EMU&#8217;s baseball men had taken down Southern Virginia 9-5 and logged a very <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/win-over-svu-gives-royals-most-wins-in-12-years\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Royals finish 2014 baseball season with most wins in 12 years<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":19869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4516,5176],"tags":[14754,14401,15413,9897,15414,11672,7469,15336,14126,14149],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-19868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","category-baseball","tag-adam-posey","tag-ben-spotts","tag-david-meehan","tag-erik-kratz","tag-jacob-brown","tag-odac","tag-player-of-the-week","tag-ryan-hedrick","tag-ryan-henschel","tag-ryan-mcalister"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - 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