ASHLAND, Va. -- After Randolph-Macon College's Yellow Jackets made it close at the finish of the first game Friday, Virginia Wesleyan College's No. 8 ranked Marlins made sure it didn't happen again in the second game.

Virginia Wesleyan connected for eight hits in the top of the fourth inning en route to posting 10 runs that gave the Marlins a 13-0 lead.  Randolph-Macon, which received votes in the lastest national poll, managed only one hit in its final two innings at bat and VWC posted the win in five innings to wrap up the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) sweep.

VWC (14-0) opened the afternoon with a 4-3 win over the Jackets (6-3).  The Marlins led 4-0 in the sixth inning in the first game, but saw R-MC produce two big hits that ruined the shutout. Sam Moore (Ashland, Va./Patrick Henry) belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to close the gap and Katie Woody (Ashland, Va./Patrick Henry) smacked a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh to tighten the score before VWC came up with the game-ending out.

The two hits highlighted only five hits the Jackets managed off VWC senior stalwart MacKenzie Creech (Hillsborough, N.C./Orange).  She surrendered only one hit through the first five innings, before the Jackets posted four in their last two innings at bat.  Creech struck out 10 batters, her second highest total of the season, and improved to 7-0 in the pitching circle.

VWC led 1-0 after five innings, but opened things up with a three-run sixth.  Rookie Blake Henderson (Virginia Beach/Ocean Lakes) led off the inning reaching base on an error.  Courtney Bogan (Round Hill/Woodgrove) and Kristina Karagiorgis (Ashburn/Briar Woods) followed with singles to load the bases. Kayla Dost (Bristow/Nokesville Brentsville) sacrificed to score one run and an error on the same play scored Bogan.  A single to center field by Andrea Shannon (Newville, Pa./Big Spring) sent another run home and VWC owned a 4-0 lead.

Randolph-Macon closed the gap with the two homers in the final two innings.

Bogan led VWC's eight-hit offense with a 3-for-4 showing at the plate. Shannon added two hits off Yellow Jacket pitcher Kelsey McLaughlin (Richmond/Douglas Freeman).  She struck out three, walked two, and dropped to 3-2 on the season.

VWC outhit Randolph-Macon 14-1 in the second game. Kayla Malkos (Roanoke/Cave Spring) finished 3-for-3 for the Marlins, who got two hits each from Season Dailey (Virginia Beach/Frank W. Cox), Lindsey Inzana (Chesapeake/Grassfield), Megan Zahnd (Chesapeake/Grassfield), and Tori Higginbotham (Glen Allen/J.R. Tucker).  Dailey, Dost, Shannon, and Zahnd belted a double each and Higginbotham connected for a home run, the latter a two-run shot in the top of the fourth to make it a 13-0 lead for the Marlins.

Virginia Wesleyan pitchers Karagiorgis and sophomore Mary Shipp (Virginia Beach/First Colonial) faced only 16 batters in the five-inning game.  Karagiorgis struck out five and allowed just one hit en route to improving to 7-0.  Shipp pitched the final inning and allowed nothing.

VWC returns to competition on Saturday, March 15, in another big ODAC doubleheader as the Marlins host the Guilford College Quakers (14-1) beginning at 1:30 p.m. at Marlins Field. VWC is currently No. 1 in the league standings and Guilford is No. 2.

--AMDG--