Box Score SALEM - The Roanoke College baseball team opened the 2015 season with a 14-6 victory over Southern Virginia on Wednesday afternoon. The Maroons start the season with a record of 1-0, while the Knights are 0-1 in their season opener.

This is the first time in Head Coach Matt McGuire's tenure at Roanoke College that he has won a season opener. Roanoke also starts the season 1-0 in their new home of Lewis-Gale Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark. The Maroons had great weather for the first pitch and saw great support from the Roanoke faithful.

Roanoke spared little time before getting on the board against Southern Virginia. After Will Decker reached base after getting hit by a pitch, Lucas Nowlin hit a double to left field to score Decker, and the first run of the 2015 campaign. Two batters later, Nowlin made a heads up play to score on a wild pitch, taking a 2-0 lead by the end of the second inning.

The Maroons put up an impressive eight run third inning to lead 10-0. Gavin Pelletteri scored first after being knocked in by a Decker single. Two batters later, Cal Hodgert hit a sacrifice fly ball, knocking in Clark Crutchfield and picking up an RBI. Decker, Collier Donald and Nowlin all scored in the next two at bats. The latter two batters scored off of a Dan Brodeur double to left center field. Other runs in the inning came from Brodeur, Sean Guida and Devin Cassity.

Two more runs crossed the plate in the fourth inning as Hodgert and Nowlin scored off of a fielder's choice/throwing error combination. After four innings, Roanoke held a 12-0 advantage.

Southern Virginia put runs up on the board in the top of the sixth, when Smith hit a double down the line to pick up two RBIs, scoring Hildebrandt and Fenn. In the next at bat, Saunders hit a single with a two base error, allowing Smith to cross the plate. The Knights got one more run across when Andrus hit an RBI single to right center field, scoring Caplin. SVU had cut the deficit to eight, 12-4.

The Maroons scored two more runs in the bottom of the seventh. Decker hit an RBI double to right field, plating Pellitteri. In the next at bat, Crutchfield made his way home on a wild pitch, putting Roanoke ahead 14-2. Southern Virginia's Andrus plated two more runs after a two RBI single. Wilde and McNally crossed the plate during a rundown of Caplin between second and third. These would be the final runs of the game, as Roanoke picked up the 14-6 season opener victory.

Lucas Nowlin led the Maroons in hitting, going 3-4 on the day, with three runs scored and one RBI. Clark Crutchfield, Gavin Pellitteri, Will Decker, Cal Hodgert and Dan Brodeur all finished the day with two hits apiece. Decker and Brodeur led the team with two RBIs apiece, while Pellitteri, Crutchfield and Decker all crossed the plate twice. Harrison Richards (1-0) picked up his first win of the season in 5.2 innings pitched, giving up three runs off five hits, while striking out five batters.

The Knights tallied nine hits, led by Smith, Saunders, and Andrus with two hits apiece. Andrus led the team with three RBIs, going 2-5 on the afternoon. Smith went 1-4 with one run scored and two RBIs. Bigelow (0-1) was tabbed with the loss, giving up 10 runs off seven hits in 2.1 innings pitched.

The Maroons return to action on Saturday, February 14^th as they play host to Frostburg State University at Lewis-Gale Field. That contest is scheduled for a 12:00 PM first pitch. The Maroons will play Frostburg State in a double-header on Saturday, with a third game to be played on Sunday (weather permitting) at noon.

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