No. 9 Macon Powers past Marlins

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The No. 9 Randolph-Macon College baseball team put up a powerful first inning to defeat Virginia Wesleyan 11-3 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) play Wednesday afternoon.

Randolph-Macon loaded the bases in the first without the benefit of a ball leaving the infield due to a walk, error on a sacrifice bunt attempt, and bunt single. Cole Migliorini connected once again on a ball that did not leave the infield as his single to first scored Ryan Duphorn. A sacrifice fly scored the second run of the game for the Yellow Jackets. A walk loaded the bases once more with just one out. Jay Patti took advantage of the loaded bags, launching a high fly ball deep over the right field wall for a grand slam, making it 6-0 after one inning.

The Marlins finally got through to the Randolph-Macon pitching staff in the fifth, cutting into the 7-0 lead. 

Corey King doubled to left-center, advancing to third on a fly out from C.J. Lindsay to start the frame. King scored on a single to left field off the bat of Jimmy Ziemke for the Marlins first run. Brandon Kussmaul followed with a double down the left field line to score Ziemke.

The Marlins put one more on the board in the sixth when Randy Neisz singled to right-center, advancing to second on a single from Taylor Erby before moving to third on a wild pitch. A fielding error by the third baseman allowed Neisz to score, cutting the Yellow Jackets lead to 7-3.

Randolph-Macon put a stop to the attempted comeback by the Marlins in the top of the seventh, answering for four runs highlighted by a two-RBI double to left by Patti.

Patti finished 2-for-3 with two runs and six RBI for Randolph-Macon (14-4/5-0). Michael Zubovich (3-0) picked up the win, allowing two earned runs in five innings. Rick Spiers surrendered just two hits in the final three innings to earn his fourth save.

Tyler Floyd and Patrick Monteverde combined for five shutout innings of relief to give the Marlin offense a chance after the crooked first inning.

Virginia Wesleyan (8-10/1-4) travels to Guilford College (13-10/1-4) for an ODAC doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m.