BRIDGEWATER, Va – The Bridgewater College baseball team dropped a pair of games to Virginia Wesleyan falling in game one 7-6 and game two 17-3.

THE BASICS

Final Score: (Game one) Virginia Wesleyan 7, Bridgewater 6; (Game two) Virginia Wesleyan 17, Bridgewater 3
Records: Bridgewater 14-9 (3-4 ODAC), Virginia Wesleyan 13-8 (5-2 ODAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Game One

• The Eagles got into trouble in the top of the first with the bases loaded, but Joe Christopher came up big picking up a strike out then inducing a fly ball to Lucas Bauer in center field.
• The Marlins got their first run on the board in the top of the second inning when, with the bases loaded, Clay Clarke hit a ground out to Nick Stavros giving the runner to come home safely from third.
• BC responded in its half of the third inning when Nick Dawson led off with a single through the left side. Jeffrey Snider followed up his teammate's at-bat with a single of his own putting a runner in scoring position. Stavros delivered in a big way hitting two RBI double to the outfield to go up 2-1. Brandan Hartman traded places with Stavros hitting a scorcher out to center field. Jonathan Sexton scored the last run of the inning when he grounded out to the second baseman to bring Hartman home and increase Bridgewater's lead to three, 4-1
• VWU fought back in the top of the fifth when Micah Fox hit a single to center field allowing the runner from third to score. Nick Sylvester dropped in a single the left field tacking on another run and inching closer to tie the game. A costly wild pitch allowed the tying run to come to the plate.
• With the score knotted at 4-4, Tristan Gordon came up clutch in the bottom of the sixth inning capitalizing on a hit-and-run scenario allowing Christian Harris to score all the way from first and give the Eagles the lead once more.
• Snider started out the bottom of the seventh inning using his patience to draw a walk. While on the base path, he used his speed to take second then tagged up to be 90 feet away from home. Hartman did his job hitting a ball deep enough for Snider to score on the sacrifice and make it 6-4.
• Virginia Wesleyan mounted a comeback in the top of the ninth when a wild pitch plated the fifth run of the ball game for the Marlins. Fox took back the lead driving a ball to deep right center to pick up two more runs in the inning. The BC defense recorded a 6-4-3 double play to get out of the inning.
• Bridgewater tried to muster up some offense in the but were unable to in the end with VWU taking game one 7-6.

GAME STATS

• Gordon led the offense going 3-for-4 at the plate and picking up one RBI.
• Stavros and Hartman each finished with two RBIs on the day.
• Brett Midkiff was given the loss after coming in the top of the ninth inning. Joe Christopher went 5.0 innings while striking out five. Andrew Baugher had a strong outing in relief putting in 2.0 innings of work giving up nothing and recording a strike out.
• Nick Beatty picked up the win for the Marlins after 3.0 innings of relief giving up two runs on two hits and registering 4 strikeouts.

Game Two

• Virginia Wesleyan started the scoring early when Fox hit a single up the middle which turned into a fielding mishap for the Eagles allowing the runner from third to come home and move Fox to second.
• VWU worked another run in the top of the second when Thomas Crandall hit a single to left field giving the Marlins a 2-0 lead.
• The offense continued to deliver in the top of the third for Virginia Wesleyan with the away team tacking on eight more runs. VWU started off the inning with back-to-back singles, then a single up the middle put up a run. John Bastiaans hit a three-run home run make it a 6-0 lead. A costly error from the BC defense continued the inning and allowed for four more runs to come across making it 10-0.
• Bridgewater responded with some offense in the bottom of the third when Stavros and Hartman had back-to-back singles following the second out. Gordon hit a double down the left field line giving the Eagle one on the scoreboard.
• The top of the fourth saw the Marlins plate three more with a triple and an error allowing the runs to score. Stavros recorded a huge out in the inning catching a screamer that was turned into a double play to get out of the inning.
• BC got strong outings of relief from Hunter Covill and Jared Peake throughout the middle innings not giving up any runs.
• Virginia Wesleyan tacked on three more in their half of the eighth inning. Nathan Bryant hit a single through the left side to pick up the first run of the game, then consecutive walks scored the final two putting the away team up 16-1.
• Chandler Valbak delivered offense in the bottom of the eight when he hit a single to left field that allowed for Ashton Smith and Spencer Sigmon to score.
• VWU grabbed its last run in the top of the ninth leading to a 17-3 victory in game two.

GAME STATS

• Hartman picked up a 2-for-3 hit day to lead the way for the Bridgewater offense.
• The Marlins had seven hitters record multi-hit games. Three hitters had three RBIs in the game.
• Reid Long was handed his third loss of the season after going 2.2 innings.
• Jack McDowell recorded a win after 5.0 innings giving up five hits.

UP NEXT
Bridgewater returns to action this Tuesday, March 26 when the team travels to Lexington, Va. to play Washington and Lee at 4 p.m.