BRIDGEWATER, Va. - Austin Batten's home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth gave Bridgewater College the lead and Steven Woerner retired the side in order in the ninth as the Eagles defeated Eastern Mennonite, 8-6, Wednesday afternoon in ODAC baseball action.

The score was tied at 6-6 when Batten belted a homer over the right-center field fence, giving the Eagles a 7-6 lead. Cavin Clyde followed Batten's homer with a double off the top of the fence in left and then moved to third on a groundout to second by Ryan Leake. After the Royals infield failed to field a popup, Brendan Howell plated Clyde with an insurance run when he hit a long sacrifice fly to right, increasing the Eagles lead to 8-6.

Woerner, who entered the game in the eighth inning, set the Royals down 1-2-3 in the ninth to close out the conference victory.

Bridgewater (12-7, 3-2 in the ODAC) jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first. Batten and Clyde led off with back-to-back singles to get the inning started. Leake was safe on a bunt single and Batten scored on the play when the throw got away from the first baseman. Clyde crossed the plate on a run-scoring groundout by Howell, givng the Eagles a 2-0 lead.

Eastern Mennonite (11-7, 3-2 in the ODAC) took advantage of an Eagles error to score three unearned runs in the top of the second. Eagles lefty Chad Lenz retired the first two batters before Patrick Love reached on a throwing error to keep the inning alive. Lenz walked the next two batters to load the bases and Griffin Stanley plated the first EMU run with a single up the middle. With the bases still full, Joe Hall singled to center, driving in a pair of runs to give the Royals a 3-2 lead.

The lead didn't last long as Bridgewater freshman Garrison Wright led off the bottom half of the second with a homer to left, tying the score at 3-3. With one out in the inning, Hunter Hensley doubled down the leftfield line and Batten followed with a triple to the gap in rightcenter, putting the Eagles back on top 4-3. Batten scored on a sac fly by Clyde for a 5-3 Bridgewater lead.

The Royals tallied twice in the top of the fourth to tie the score. Patrick Love led off with a single and Nic Love walked. Both runners moved up on Zach Roberts' sacrifice bunt before a walk to Griffin Stanley loaded the bases with one out. Hall then singled through the left side of the infield to score one run, pulling EMU to within 5-4. Kyle Armstrong grounded into a force play at the plate for the second out of the inning, but Ryan Hedrick drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the score at 5-5.

EMU regained the lead with a run in the sixth inning. Roberts led off the inning with a walk, but was cut down by catcher Hunter Hensley when he tried to advance to second on a ball in the dirt. Stanley then walked and moved to second on a grounder to third by Hall. With two outs, Armstrong singled through the left side of the infield and Stanley raced home with the go-ahead run, making the score 6-5.

Eastern Mennonite ecaped from a bases-loaded, no outs jam in the bottom of the sixth to maintain the one-run lead. Chris King and Wright singled and Brandon Poole walked as the Eagles loaded the bases. The Royals summoned lefty Aaron Hooven from the bullpen and the senior retired the next three hitters to preserve the 6-5 lead.

The Eagles pushed across a run in the bottom of the seventh to tie the score at 6-6. With one out, Kenner Berry walked and Howell followed with a single to right. Chris King then delivered a clutch single to rightcenter to score Berry with the tying run.

Bridgewater went to Woerner in the eighth inning and the Royals put a runner in scoring position, but came away empty-handed. With one out in the inning. Woerner hit Stanley with a pitch and Stanley moved to second on Hall's bunt attempt. Woerner then retired Armstrong on a grounder to first to end the inning.

Batten was 3-for-5 at the plate, finishing just a double shy from hitting for the cycle The Eagles' second baseman drove in a pair of runs and scored three times. Wright also had three base hits as the Eagles finished the day with 13 hits. Clyde and King added two hits each and Howell drove in a pair of runs.

Bridgewater's bullpen turned in a strong effort as Jeff Early, Ian Mayes and Woerner combined to hold the Royals to just one run over the final 5.2 innings.

The Royals finished with just seven hits. Hall, Armstrong and Patrick Love had two hits each.

Bridgewater is back in action Saturday afternoon when the Eagles host Virginia Wesleyan for an ODAC doubleheader. First pitch is set for noon.