LYNCHBURG, Va. - Bridgewater College continued
its climb out of the loser's bracket with a 19-9 victory Saturday
over Randolph-Macon in the ODAC baseball tournament played at City
Stadium.
The Eagles will play Lynchburg College on Sunday afternoon with
the game still set to begin at 1:00 p.m.. Lynchburg and Washington
and Lee were playing Saturday evening when their game was suspended
by rain with Lynchburg holding a 7-1 lead. The game will be resumed
Sunday morning at 11. If Lynchburg wins, the Eagles will have to
defeat the Hornets twice to claim the title. If W&L rallies to
defeat Lynchburg, BC and Lynchburg will play an elimination game
Sunday with the winner meeting the Generals in a one-game showdown
for the championship.
Saturday's contest did not start well for the Eagles as
Randolph-Macon jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead.
The Yellow Jackets scored four times in the first and then
chased BC starter Casey
Hartman with another run in the second. Hartman left with the
bases loaded and one run already across, but Kevin Chandler came out of
the pen and worked out of the jam to keep the deficit at 5-0.
In the bottom of the second the Bridgewater bats that had been
dormant during the first two games came to life. Bridgewater scored
10 runs on seven hits to take lead.
The Eagles loaded the bases with no outs and Drew Elkins came through with
a two-run single to put BC on the board. Mitch Edwards was hit by a
pitch to reload the bases and Alex Nuttycombe singled
home a run to make it 5-3. Drew Easter doubled home two
runs to tie the score and Devon Snow singled home two more, giving
the Eagles a 7-5 lead. The Eagles managed to load the bases again
and Elkins cleared the sacks with a three-run double to put the
Eagles on top 10-5.
Armed with the lead, Chandler blanked the Yellow Jackets over
the next five innings and his teammates continued to pad the
lead.
In the third, Bridgewater scored five runs without the benefit
of a hit to increase its lead to 15-5.
The Eagles added three more runs in the fifth. Andy Chrismer belted a
two-run triple to make the score 17-5 Elkins singled Chrismer home
and the Eagles led 18-5.
Bridgewater scored its final run in the sixth when Nuttycombe
doubled and scored on Easter's single for a 19-5 lead.
Chandler finally ran out of gas in the eighth inning when
Randolph-Macon scored four runs. Andrew Hacker pitched a
scoreless ninth inning to finish off the 19-9 victory.
Elkins led the Eagles 13-hit attack with a 3-for-5 day at the
plate and six RBIs. Easter was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and
three RBIs and Snow finished 2-for-5 with two runs batted in.
Nuttycombe was 2-for-3 at the plate with three runs scored and one
RBI while Chrismer finished 1-for-3 with three runs scored and
three more driven home.
Chandler picked up his second win of the tournament in his
second relief outing in two days. The sophomore pitched 6.2
innings and allowed four runs, all earned, on seven hits. He struck
out three and walked one.
The Eagles are now 21-18-1 on the season. Randolph-Macon
finished its season with an 18-16 record.
