Baseball Splits in First Day of Tournament

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Virginia Wesleyan College baseball team split its contests in day one of the Virginia Wesleyan Marlin Invitational, defeating RPI 8-4 before falling to Oswego State by a score of 7-4.

Game 1 - 8-4 Virginia Wesleyan Victory

The Marlins rallied back to take the early lead against RPI, holding on late for an 8-4 victory. RPI led 3-0 in the second inning, all on unearned runs, when the Marlins began to fight back in the bottom of the frame. Virginia Wesleyan scored two in the bottom of the second, tying up the contest in the third.

VWC tacked on single runs in the fifth and seventh frames, but an RPI run in the top of the eighth cut the deficit to 5-4. With the tying run on second base, the Marlins turned to Nick Ott out of the bullpen who finished got the next hitter to preserve the one-run lead.

The Marlins posted just two hits in the bottom of the eighth, but utilized four errors to score three runs and secure the victory.

Nick Bay (2-0) allowed just one earned run in 7 2/3 innings pitched. He allowed nine hits and issued two walks while striking out four.

Nik Milvo had three hits while C.J. Lindsay finished with two RBI.

Game 2 - 7-4 Oswego St. Victory

Oswego State took advantage of some early opportunities to claim the victory. The Lakers scored six runs in the first four innings to take a 6-0 lead.

Trailing 7-2 in the eighth inning, the Marlins cut the lead by two runs as Milvo tripled home Trey Hanchey before coming in to score on a passed ball.

Brian Carroll and Brandon Kussmaul both singled in the ninth, moving up to second and third with two outs, but Oswego State set down the potential tying run to preserve the victory.

Justin Erby, David Derenske, and Kussmaul each had two hits. The bullpen of Luke Chiasson, John Effinger, Tyler Floyd, Glen Pizzanello, and Matthew Isaacs combined to hold the Lakers to one run in 5 2/3 innings of relief.

Virginia Wesleyan (3-2) will host Ithaca College on day two of the tournament Sunday at noon.