VIRGINIA BEACH -- Brooks Kirby took his place on the pitchers' mound in what could have been a break-away inning for the visiting Royals of Eastern Mennonite University on Saturday at Virginia Wesleyan College's Marlins Field.

But, with one EMU run scored in the top of the sixth inning inning to make it a 3-1 Royals lead, one out, and bases loaded, the Virginia Wesleyan junior from Warwickshire, England (Cobham School) calmly diffused the threat by recording a strike out and drawing a fielder's choice for the third out.

It was a turn of events that not only deflated the Royals, but also sparked the Marlins who cameback to score twice in the bottom of the six and tack on eight more runs over the seventh and eighth innings to take an 11-6 victory to complete an Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) sweep.  The Marlins opened the Senior Day games with a 5-0 victory behind solid pitching effort from sophomore Alex Tucci (Stewartstown, Pa./York Catholic).

Virginia Wesleyan improved to 11-21 with the sweep, but more importantly pulled within one game of .500 in the league, now at 8-9.  The Marlins have won four of their last five ODAC outings.  EMU fell to 14-20 overall and to 4-12 in the league.

The Marlins took the sweep with a big offensive showing in their last three innings at bat, belting out 11 of their total 14 hits, including five in a five-run eighth inning. Timely big hits highlighted the surge, including a two-run single by Casey Bryant (Virginia Beach/Ocean Lakes) in the sixth and a two-run single by Brett Sutryk (Bath, N.Y./Haverling) in the seventh.  Sutryk also delivered in the eight with a two-run single up the middle and Ken Belgrave (Norfolk/Granby) followed with a two-run double to left field.

Sutryk finished the second game with a 3-for-5 showing at the plate for four RBI.  Jordan Miller (Chesapeake/Grassfield) and Casey King (Virginia Beach/Bayside) also doubled each in the game for VWC.

The Marlins used four pitchers, beginning with Reid Hoffler (Chesapeake/Suffolk Nansemond River), who pitched 5.1 innings and gave up four walks, four hits and two earned runs.  Lee Cranford (Orlean/Fauquier) entered and faced two battters, before Kirby entered to take over.  He faced 12 batters, struck out one and gave up five hits and three earned runs.  Senior Tyler Tweedy (Yorktown/Greenbrier Christian) finished, facing five batters.  He struck out one and gave up a walk and a hit.

EMU also used four pitchers, with Daniel Stanley (Henrico/Varina) taking the loss.  He struck out five batters and gave up nine hits and five earned runs.  Kyle Armstrong (Greenville/Riverheads) and Phillip Jordan (West Point/Christchurch) led EMU hitting with three each.

Virginia Wesleyan preceded its 14-hit offense in the second game with a 13-hit showing in the first game, led by Josh Miller's 4-for-4 effort, which included a double.  Matt Ittner (Virginia Beach/Frank W. Cox) connected for three hits, including a triple, and Belgrave had two hits, highlighted by an in-the-park home run into right center field in the bottom of the seventh.

The Marlins' offensive effort backed a strong showing on the mound by Tucci, who pitched a complete game en route to improving to 5-4 on the season.  He struck out six batters, walked only two and scattered seven hits in the shutout. 

Adam Posey (Poquoson/Poquoson) dropped to 4-2 on the mound for EMU after pitching seven innings.  He struck out seven, gave up 13 hits and five earned runs.  Zach Bowles (Staunton/Robert E. Lee) led the Royals' hitting with two.

Virginia Wesleyan competes again on Tuesday, April 16, hosting Hampden-Sydney College in a single ODAC contest beginning at 3:30 p.m.

--AMDG--