BRIDGEWATER, Va. - Bridgewater College split its Saturday doubleheader with Roanoke College to clinch a spot in next week's ODAC baseball tournament. The Eagles won the opening game of Saturday's twinbill 9-5 to secure a spot in the tournament. Roanoke took the second game, 6-1.

Bridgewater (21-17 overall, 11-9 in the ODAC) will be the No. 6 seed for the conference tournament that will be played at Lynchburg's City Stadium. The Eagles will face No. 1 seed Shenandoah in the first game of the tournament Thursday morning, April 28 at 11 a.m. Bridgewater and Shenandoah split the two regular season games with each winning on the road.

The Eagles took the lead in the opener with an unearned run in the bottom of the first. With one out, Cavin Clyde reached first on a walk. Ryan Leake then lined out to short for the second out of the inning. Roanoke shortstop Eli Sumpter threw to first, trying to double off Clyde, but his throw skipped past first baseman Clark Crutchfield and rolled out of play, allowing Clyde to advance to third base. Clyde scored on a wild pitch for a 1-0 Eagles lead.

Roanoke tied the score with a run in the top of the third. Will Black walked and swiped second. He moved to third on a groundout and scored on Crutchfield's single to left, making the score 1-1.

Bridgewater regained the lead in the bottom half of the third, again taking advantage of a Roanoke miscue. Dylan Horne walked to lead off the innng and stole second base. With one out, Clyde hit a long fly ball to center field. Horne tagged up on the play to move to third and when the throw from the outfield skipped away from the cutoff man, Horne raced home to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.

The Eagles broke the game open with six runs in the fifth to take an 8-1 lead. With one out, Horne singled to center for the Eagles first hit of the game off Maroons starter John Ruhlman. Horne moved to second on an errant pickoff throw before Austin Batten walked to put two runners on. After Clyde fouled out to first, Ryan Leake was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kenner Berry and Brendan Howell drew back-to-back RBI walks, giving the Eagles a 4-1 lead. Justin Petock greeted reliever Chance Henry with a single to right, making the score 5-1. Damian Reed then delivered the crushing blow with a bases-clearing double deep to leftcenter, putting the Eagles ahead 8-1.

Roanoke got one run back in the top of the sixth inning when Will Black belted a long homer to right, making the score 8-2.

The Maroons finally got to Eagles' starter Steven Woerner with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth. Anthony Teixeira led off with a single and a double by Craig Kiley put two runners in scoring position. Crutchfield followed with a double to deep center, scoring two runs to pull Roanoke to within 8-4. Woerner struck out Black for the first out of the inning, before Eagles head coach Curt Kendall went to the bullpen for Leake. The Bridgewater lefty struck out the next two batters to end the inning with the Eagles still holding the 8-4 advantage.

Bridgewater added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 9-4. Hunter Hensley reached on a one-out bunt single and Horne followed with a double, putting runners at second and third. Batten then singled to right, scoring Hensley to give the Eagles a five-run lead.

Roanoke put two runners on in the ninth, but Leake ended the game with a strikeout to send the Eagles to the tournament.

Woerner, normally the Eagles closer, gave the Eagles a strong outing in his first start of the season. The senior allowed four runs on eight hits in 7.1 innings to earn the win. He struck out seven and walked just one batter.

Bridgewater scored first in the second game with a run in the bottom of the third. Batten reached on a two-out single and he moved to third on an error. Chris King plated Batten with a single through the box for a 1-0 Eagles lead.

Roanoke took the lead in the fifth when Connor Lilly and Dan Brodeur led off the frame with back-to-back solo homers to left, giving the visitors a 2-1 lead.

The Maroons put some distance on the Eagles with three runs in the sixth. Lilly walked with the bases loaded to drive in a run and Brodeuur and Dean Hermanson added run-sscoring singles for a 5-1 margin.

Roanoke finished its season with a 23-16 overall record and a 10-10 ODAC mark to end the season one-game out of the tournament picture.