ASHLAND, Va. -- Virginia Wesleyan College's baseball Marlins have experienced more than their share of frustrating losses this season, but that changed somewhat on Wednesday.

Virginia Wesleyan emerged as the team to score the late runs for a victory as the Marlins tallied twice in the top of the 11th inning to pin the first Old Dominion Athletic Conference loss of the season on the host Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College.  The Marlins overcame a four-run eighth by the Jackets to post a thrilling 9-7 victory.

The Marlins (8-13, 3-4) made it all happen with two outs in the 11th, when rookie Brett Sutyrk (Bath, N.Y./Bath-Haverling) reached base on an error.  Another walk to Nate Chamberlin (Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) moved Sutryk to second, before a Jacket error put Mitch Green (Cordova, Md./St. Michael's) on base and scored Sutryk with the go-ahead run.  The Marlins got another break when a passed ball advanced the runners, scoring Chamberlin to give VWC a 9-7 lead before the Jackets found the third out.

R-MC (10-7, 6-1) saw its chances for a comeback go down quickly as rookie Reid Hoffler (Chesapeake, Va./Suffolk Nansemond River) retired the Jackets 1-2-3 en route to picking up his first pitching win of the season.  Hoffler threw in the final two innings, struck out one and allowed just two hits.

It was a satisfying win for the Marlins, who snapped a five-game losing skid.  Virginia Wesleyan led 6-2 through seven innings, but saw the Jackets come back with a four-run eighth to tie the game.  R-MC used one error and four hits, including a two-run homer by Greg Mitro (Richmond, Va./Mills Godwin).

Virginia Wesleyan regained the lead in the top of the ninth, which started with a single down the right field line from Shayne Paskanik (Fredericksburg, Va./Colonial Forge).  He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Josh Miller (Norfolk, Va./Chesapeake Greenbrier Christian) and scored with Sutryk singled down the left field line.

Randolph-Macon came back quickly in the bottom of the inning however, when Jay Lichter (Richmond, Va./Varina) singled to right field.  He advanced to second on wild pitch and took third on a sacrifice from Michael Helbig (Midlothian, Va./Midlotian). A wild pitch scored Lichter to tie the game.

VWC threatened in the 10th with a one out double into left field by Myles Shipp (Virginia Beach/First Colonial), but could not find the hit to bring him in. R-MC led off with a single in the bottom of the inning, but the Marlins came up with a double play to snuff out the early threat, setting up the big finish in the 11th.

Virginia Wesleyan outhit R-MC 17-13, led by Jacob Pierce (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) with a pair of doubles, his 11th and 12th of the season.  Paskanik hit 4-for-5 for the Marlins, while Shipp and Pierce were both 3-for-6.  Miller and Sutryk finished with two hits each.

Brian Jordan (Columbia, Va./Goochland), Jeb Weymouth (Rockville, Va./Hanover), Peter Culver (Bumpass, Va./Louisa) and Mitro all had two hits each for Randolph-Macon.

Alex DeJesus (Norfolk, Va./Lake Taylor) started on the mound for VWC and struck out five batters in 7.1 innings. He gave up five walks, eight hits and three earned runs.  Ryan Matalon (Virginia Beach/Floyd E. Kellam), Ty Tweedy (Yorktown, Va./Chesapeake Greenbrier Christian) and Hoffler followed DeJesus in relief.

R-MC also used four pitchers, with James Bierlein (Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) taking the loss after four innings of relief work.  Kyle Hicks (Goochland, Va./Goochland) started for the Jackets and also worked four innings.

VWC returns to competition on Thursday, Mar. 17, hosting the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (1-4) in a non-conference game at 3 p.m.

--AMDG--