SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College baseball team improved to 7-10 overall on the season and 4-3 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference with a sweep of Emory & Henry College on Wednesday night in Salem, VA. The Maroons rallied for an 8-6 victory in the first game and then came out on top of a 6-3 decision in the second contest.
In the first game of the double-header, the Maroons fell behind 6-5 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. The Maroons gave up two homers in the first six innings, one a three-run shot in the first, the second a two-run homerun in the top of the sixth. Roanoke, however, scored three times in the bottom of the sixth to take an 8-6 edge. Kirby Hamilton led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch and went to second on a Mike Eubank sacrifice. Justin Bradley then tripled to score Hamilton from second and tie the score. Brennan Thacker followed Bradley's extra-base hit with a double of his own, scoring Bradley, giving the Maroons the lead. Later in the inning, Brandon Wilson singled to score Thacker and give the Maroons an insurance run.
In the fourth inning of the first game, Bradley hit a two-run homerun to tie the score at four. Wilson got the Maroons going in the first inning, singling to score Bradley from third. Robby Hoopes had two runs batted in for the Maroons, who got a relief win from Travis Andrews, who threw 1.2 innings, not allowing a hit and striking out two.
In the second game, the Maroons got a quality starting pitching outing from Jonathan Wills, who went 7.2 innings and gave up just one earned run, three total. Wills struck out six batters in the contest and got the win, his third of the year. Nathan Unroe, who had a hit and two runs scored, recorded his second save of the season.
Offensively in the second game, the Maroons got off to a 1-0 start in the first inning on a Robby Hoopes single. The Maroons pushed their lead out to 3-0 in the bottom of the third, when Thacker and Unroe hit back-to-back triples. Unroe drove in Thacker and then scored on a Brandon Wilson hit. In the sixth, Unroe again drove in Thacker, that after Thacker hit his second triple of the game. Thacker's hit scored Mike Eubank.
The Maroons are scheduled to host Chowan College in a non-conference double-header on Sunday, April 3rd in Salem.
