BRIDGEWATER, Va. - Bridgewater College used a
pair of late-inning comebacks Saturday to sweep a conference
doubleheader from Roanoke College. The Eagles won the opener 6-4
and took the second game 11-8.
Bridgewater's Alex Foltz and Roanoke's Cody Kidd hooked up in a
pitcher's duel in the opener.
Both pitchers took a shutout into the sixth inning - an inning
when all 10 runs were scored.
Noah Davidson walked to lead off the sixth for Roanoke and Alan
Moore followed with a long homer to left center, giving the Maroons
a 2-0 lead. Jay Laramore and Mark Manthe singled for the Maroons
and both scored on a throwing error, making the score 4-0.
The Eagles took advantage of a key error to rally in the bottom
of the sixth. With two outs and a runner on, Brett Howell reached
on an infield error to keep the inning alive. Drew Elkins followed
with single to score Mitchell Edwards to put the Eagles on the
scoreboard. Jonathan Mason walked to load the bases and Howell
scored from third on a wild pitch, trimming the margin to 4-2.
Andrew Hacker then singled up the middle to plate Elkins and Mason
to tie the score at 4-4. Tyler Grouten then replaced Kidd on the
mound and Devon Snow greeted the Roanoke reliever with a single to
score pinch-runner Matt Maher with the go-ahead run. Snow then
stole second and Drew Easter walked. Kevin Kirk singled home Snow,
giving the Eagles a 6-4 lead.
Graham Thacker led off the seventh with a single, but Foltz
induced a double-play grounder from Davidson for the inning's first
two outs. Moore doubled for the Maroons, but Foltz caught Laramore
looking at a third strike to end the game.
Foltz allowed four runs, two earned, on 10 hits to pick up the
victory. He struck out four and walked three.
The Eagles jumped on Roanoke starter Manthe for four runs in the
first inning of Game 2. Kirk and Edwards walked and Chrismer
followed with a single, giving BC a 1-0 lead. Howell then belted a
three-run homer to the opposite field in right, giving BC a quick
4-0 lead.
The lead didn't last long as the Maroons scored seven runs in
the top of the second on just three hits against BC starter Casey
Hartman. Roanoke took advantage of two costly BC errors to
gain the upper hand.
The Eagles nicked Roanoke relief pitcher Chris Caputo for a run
in the bottom of the second on Kirk's RBI-single, cutting the
Maroons' lead to 7-5.
Caputo dominated the Eagles over the next four innings and his
teammates scratched out a run in the fifth to lead 8-5 Caputo
retired the Eagles in order in the third through sixth innings to
keep the Maroons out front.
The Eagles finally got to Caputo in the seventh when a single by
Drew Easter pulled BC within two runs at 8-6.
Bridgewater chased Caputo in the eight when Chrismer and Howell
led off the inning with singles. Jonathan Mason greeted Roanoke
relief pitcher Michael Haslam with a double, scoring Chrismer to
make the score 8-7. Elkins tied the score with a single and Hacker
followed with a three-run homer, giving the Eagles an 11-8 lead.
Freshman lefty Joseph Lucas picked up the victory with a stellar
relief effort. Lucas blanked the Maroons over the final four
innings, allowing just three hits. He struck out three and walked
one.
Bridgewater's two wins Saturday's coupled with Lynchburg's two
losses to Virginia Wesleyan, moved the Eagles to the top of the
ODAC standings.
The Eagles are now 8-2 in the conference and 11-12 overall.
Roanoke drops to 8-13 overall, 4-6 in the conference.
