BRIDGEWATER , Va. - Bridgewater College and Lynchburg split a key ODAC doubleheader Saturday with the Eagles winning the opener, 5-2, and Lynchburg taking Game 2, 4-1.

With the split, the Eagles remain one game ahead of the Hornets in the ODAC standings. Bridgewater is now 20-15 overall, 13-3 in the ODAC while the Hornets are 20-13, 12-4 in conference play.

Bridgewater rode a strong pitching performance from southpaw Joseph Lucas to defeat Lynchburg College, 5-2, in Saturday's first game.

Lucas blanked the Hornets for eight innings before losing his shutout in the ninth when the visitors recorded three of their six hits.

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the first and then added two more in the fifth. With two outs, Kevin Kirk singled and scored on a double by Jonathan Mason to make it 2-0 and Mason scored on Andrew Hacker's single for a 3-0 Bridgewater lead.

Bridgewater took advantage of a two-out error in the sixth to tack on two more runs. Zach Hynes ended up on second when his grounder to third was throw away at first.  After Bryan Sanderson walked, Devon Snow doubled down the right-field line to score both runners, giving the Eagles a 5-0 lead.

Lucas allowed two runs on six hits to run his record to 4-3. He struck out four and walked one.

Snow, Kirk and Mason - the first three hitters in the lineup - each finished with two hits for the Eagles.

In the second game, the teams traded runs in the first and then the Hornets took the lead for good with an unearned run in the third. Lynchburg tacked on another run in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Michael Kenah, giving the Hornets a 3-1 lead.

The Eagles best chance to even the score came in the bottom of the eighth. With two outs, Jay Thompson walked and Dustin Arrowood followed with an infield single. Alex Hogge then walked to load the bases, but Lynchburg pitcher Robert Garrett struck out pinch hitter Christian Armstrong to end the threat.

The Hornets handed BC starter Kevin Chandler his first loss of the season. Chandler allowed four runs, three earned, on 11 hits in 8-plus innings of work. He struck out four and walked one.

Lynchburg starter James Womack pitched six innings to get the win while Jared Millner worked the ninth to pick up the save.