BRIDGEWATER, VA--Trailing 8-6 heading into the top of the ninth inning of the second game in a double-header at Bridgewater College, the Roanoke College baseball team erupted for eight runs and at the end of the game walked away with a 14-10 upset win over the Eagles. The win gave the two teams a double-header split, that after Bridgewater won the first game 5-1. The Maroons are now 15-17 overall and 6-10 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Eagles are 22-9 and 13-3 in the ODAC and remain in first place in the ODAC standings despite the game-two loss.
Down by two runs, the Maroons scored eight times on six hits and one Bridgewater error to rally for the win. With one out in the top of the ninth,
Brennan Thacker, Robby Hoopes, and
Chris Zachodzki all singled to load the bases. Nathan Unroe then delivered the big blow of the inning, a grandslam to give the Maroons a 10-8 lead.
After the Eagles made a pitching change, sophomore Matt Vess hit Roanoke's second homer in as many at-bats, extending the lead to three, 11-8. After Clint Zimmerman reached on the BC error, he stole second, and was followed by a
Shane Spikes walk and a Justin Bradley hit by pitch. With the bases loaded for the second time in the inning, the Maroons got three more runs, these three coming on a Thacker double. All three runs were unearned.
The Eagles made a comeback attempt in the bottom of the ninth, scoring two unearned runs before Bradley closed out the game for his first win of the season. A back-and-forth game saw the Maroons take a 6-4 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth inning before the Eagles struck for three runs to take the 8-6 edge.
The two ninth-inning homers gave the Maroons three in the game, that following a
Jake Furry homer in the eighth. Unroe finished the game with five runs batted in, while Thacker and Sean Sturgill had three each. Sturgill had two on a double in the fifth.
In the first game, the Maroons were limited to just three hits in suffering the 5-1 loss. Roanoke's lone run of that game came in the top of the fifth inning. Sturgill led off with a double and with two outs came around to score on a Clint Zimmerman single.
The Maroons are back in action on Monday in a non-conference road game at King (TN) College. Roanoke will then close out its 2006 ODAC regular season with a home double-header with Lynchburg College next Saturday. The first game at Salem's Kiwanis Field begins at 12:00pm.
Roanoke vs. Bridgewater Game 1 Box Score
Roanoke vs. Bridgewater Game 2 Box Score
