VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia - The Virginia Wesleyan baseball team defeated the Monarchs of Methodist University 10-7 on Wednesday afternoon at Kenneth R. Perry Field at TowneBank Park in Virginia Beach, VA. The Marlins are now 4-7, while the Monarchs move to 10-5.

INSIDE THE SCORE
The game began with the Marlins putting three runs on the board in the bottom half of the first after keeping the Monarchs scoreless in the top half. A groundout by Jacob Pilarski drove home Miles Christian for the first run while runs two and three came in off a homerun by Zack Clark that scored Austin Obenour on the play. 

The next inning was scoreless for both squads but the Marlins bats got hot again in the bottom of the third as Obenour led off the inning with a solo shot over the left-field wall for his third home run of the season. Matt Dagostino scored during a Tyriq Campbell at-bat that advanced all runners a base on an error by the shortstop. Clark scored the other following a pop fly to left field putting the Marlins ahead 6-0 through three innings. 

Neither team found a run in the fourth or fifth innings and the Monarchs offense threw everything at the Marlins defense in the top of the sixth as they put up five runs to pull within one of VWU, 6-5. Virginia Wesleyan answered with four runs in the bottom half of the inning to reclaim a decent lead of five runs. Three of the four sixth-inning runs came off the bat of Dagostino who hit a bases-loaded double to centerfield that cleared the bags. The fourth run was scored by Dagostino on a single from Pilarski up the middle.

Both teams sat quite in the seventh but then Methodist put up two in the top of the eighth closing the gap to three runs, 10-7. VWU had no response in the bottom half of the inning but saw the game end an inning early as the umpires called the contest for darkness as the sun had set on TowneBank Park with the Blue and White leading 10-7 on the call.

VIRGINIA WESLEYAN LEADERS
The Marlins were led by Matt Dagostino with two runs on one hit with three RBI in four at-bats. Austin Obenour scored three runs in three at-bats with one hit and an RBI. Miles Christian, Zack Clark, and Jacob Pilarski all scored twice in the game. 

CJ Morris earned the win on the mound for the Marlins, his first of the season, throwing 3.1 innings while giving up just four hits and three walks while striking out one. 

METHODIST LEADERS
The Monarchs were led by Matthias Carter with one run on two hits with three RBI in five at-bats. Christian Yarbrough and Will Dagenhart each crossed home plate twice while also recording lone hit each. 

KEY MOMENT
The key moment of the game came in the bottom of the sixth when the Marlins answered a five-run top half of the inning with four runs in the bottom taking a 10-5 lead with three innings remaining.

UP NEXT
Virginia Wesleyan returns to action this Saturday when they travel to Bridgewater, VA, to take on the Eagles of Bridgewater College in an ODAC doubleheader at 12 and 3 PM.