VIRGINIA BEACH -- League-leading Bridgewater College eked out a pair of Old Dominion Athletic Conference victories over Virginia Wesleyan College via some late-inning heroics at Marlins Field.

The No. 23-ranked Eagles (9-1, 4-0) relied on a pair of seventh inning scores to pull out a 7-5 win over of the Marlins in the first game, and then held off a closing surge by the host team to survive with a 10-9 decision in the second game.

Virginia Wesleyan (4-11, 1-3) trailed 10-6 in the second contest after Bridgewater scored twice in the top of the eighth inning.  The Marlins came back with a solo run in the bottom of the eighth, scoring when sophomoreCasey Bryant (Virginia Beach/Ocean Lakes) singled home junior Brett Sutryk (Bath, N.Y./Haverling), who reached base earlier on a fielders' choice.

VWC pitcher Brooks Kirby (Warwickshire, England/Cobham) struck out two Bridgewater batters in the ninth and got another batter to pop up, to end the inning without an Eagle threat. 

The Marlins followed that in the bottom of the ninth with an uprising that started with a single by senior Billy Crowe (Bath, N.Y./Haverling).  Senior Matt Ittner (Virginia Beach/Frank W. Cox) followed with a single to move Crowe to third, and senior Evan Polk (Chesapeake/Great Bridge) connected for a two-out RBI single.  Ittner scored on a steal to pull the Marlins within a 10-9 score, but BC produced the third out to end the game.

Virginia Wesleyan out-hit Bridgewater 18-15 in the game, led by senior Kenny Belgrave (Norfolk/Granby) with a 4-for-5 showing at the plate, including a double.  Sophomore Scott Montgomery (Virginia Beach/Tallwood) had three hits.

Dylan Stokus (Ashburn/Arlington Bishop O'Connell) started on the mound for the Marlins and faced 31 batters in six innings.  He fanned three, walked one and gave up 12 hits and eight earned runs.  Sophomore Wes Carmichael (Manteo, N.C./Manteo) pitched the final three innings, striking out three, walking one and allowing three hits and two earned runs.

Robert Gallet (Stafford/North Stafford) improved to 3-1 with the pitching win.  He worked five innings before giving way to Nick Corbin (Staunton/Buffalo Gap). Gallet walked two and gave up 11 hits, two walks and five earned runs.  Corbin struck out four batters.

Nick Fulk (Fulks Run/Broadway) and Andrew Hacker (Mechanicsville/Lee Davis) led BC with four hits each.

Zach Hynes (Glen Allen/Deep Run) led Eagles' hitting in the first game with three hits as BC out-hit VWC 14-10.  The Eagles came up with two of those hits in the top of the seventh, including an RBI double by Jonathan Mason (Sterling/Park View) to plate a pair of runs to break a 5-5 deadlock.

Virginia Wesleyan had three innings at bat after that, but could only manage a Sutryk single in the seventh and a Montgomer double in the ninth.

VWC trailed 5-2 after 5.5 innings, but tied the game with a three-run surge in the bottom of the sixth.  Bryant led off with a double, sophomore Jordan Miller (Chesapeake/Grassfield) drew a walk, and Crowe scored them both with a triple.  Polk singled later to score Crowe.

Alex Tucci (Stewartstown, Pa./York Catholic) pitched for VWC, working six innings.  He struck out two, walked two and gave up 12 hits and six earned runs. Kirby closed, striking out four.

Corey Armentrout (Harrisonburg/Broadway), Justin Petock (Woodbridge/Woodbridge) and Kyle Henshaw (New Kent/New Kent) all pitched for BC.  Petock took the win. Armentrout led the trio with four strikeouts.

Crowe and Montgomery led VWC hitting with two hits each.

Virginia Wesleyan returns to competition on Sunday, March 11, hosting the University of Mary Washington in a single game beginning at 1 p.m.

--AMDG--