SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College baseball team picked up its first two conference victories, sweeping two games from Eastern Mennonite on Saturday afternoon in Salem, VA. The host team won the first game 4-2 and then took the second 8-0. The Maroons improve to 9-9 overall and improve to 2-3 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Eastern Mennonite, which has now lost five of six games to the Maroons, fall to 4-12 overall and 0-4 in the ODAC .
Roanoke 4, Eastern Mennonite 2
Eastern Mennonite took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning, getting run-scoring single from Derek Butler. The Maroons battled right back in the bottom of the inning, scoring twice. Both runs, scored by Opey Clarke and Sean Sturgill, came on a Brandon Coates double down the leftfield line.
Brandon Zollman collected his third hit of the game, a double in the top of the fifth, to even the score at two. Zollman's hit scored Jeff Gingrich from third base.
The Maroons regained the lead in the bottom of the inning. With Brennan Thacker on second, following a ground-rule double, Sean Sturgill hit his third homerun of the season, that over the leftfield fence.
Travis Andrews went the distance for the Maroons, striking out three batters while giving up just the two runs.
Roanoke 8, Eastern Mennonite 0
Sturgill hot his second homer of the double header to get the Maroon offense going in the second game. The first-pitch homer was his fourth of the year and was the first of six RC runs in the inning. Later in the inning, with two runners on base, Clint Zimmerman also sent a first-pitch homer over the wall, giving the Maroons a 7-0 lead. Anthony Hernandez also drove in two runs in the inning, that with a single.
Roanoke's first run of the game actually came in the first inning. Following a Robby Hoopes single, senior Kirby Hamilton doubled to the gap in leftfield, allowing Hoopes to come around to score. Hernandez then got his third RBI of the game with a run-scoring single to center in the bottom of the eighth. Andrew McNeil scored from second on the hit.
Chase Davidson got the start on the mound for the Maroons. The junior went 7.1 innings, giving up nine hits, but not allowing a run. He struck out five batters in the process.
