BRIDGEWATER, Virginia - The Virginia Wesleyan baseball team split their doubleheader against the Eagles of Bridgewater College in ODAC action in Bridgewater, VA. The Marlins move to 5-8 on the season, 1-3 in conference action, while the Eagles are now 10-3 and 1-1 in the ODAC.

INSIDE THE SCORE - GAME 1
The game began with three scoreless innings of baseball before the Marlins found a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning. After back-to-back outs, Tyriq Campbell comes to the plate and whacks a double down the rightfield line to get in scoring position. The catcher Zack Burkhart followed Campbell to the plate and sent a rocket over the leftfield wall for a two-run homer putting VWU ahead 2-0 through three and a half innings. Neither team scores for two respective at-bats, but the Eagles find the tying runs in the bottom of the sixth knotting the score at two-all. VWU responded in the top of the seventh with a solo run scored by Nick Price off of a Miles Christian sac-fly to right field giving the Marlins the 3-2 lead. Virginia Wesleyan held Bridgewater scoreless in the seventh, eighth, and ninth to win 3-2 in game one. 

VIRGINIA WESLEYAN LEADERS
The Marlins were led by Zack Burkhart with one run on one hit with two RBI in four at-bats. Nick Price added one run on two hits in four at-bats while Tyriq Campbell added a single run on one hit. Jacob Pilarski (W, 2-1) threw six innings giving up two runs on five hits with five walks and six strikeouts. Adam Brooks threw two innings for the Marlins giving up just three hits and striking out two in eight batters faced. Andrew Lowe (Sv, 2) collected his second save of the season throwing the ninth inning giving up just one hit and striking out two. 

BRIDGEWATER LEADERS
The Eagles were led by Matthew LaPrade with one run on one hit in four at-bats. Jarret Biesecker, Luke Paczewski, and Tanner Montgomery each tallied two hits in their respective at-bats. Hunter Clever (L, 1-1) earned the loss coming in relief to throw 3.1 innings giving up the game-winning run on three hits with one walk and one strikeout. 

INSIDE THE SCORE - GAME 2
Game two began with the Eagles finding some life in their bats as they put up three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Three scoreless innings ensued before Bridgewater found four more runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 7-0 lead after five complete innings. The Marlins found some life in the top of the sixth as they scored four runs in the top half of the inning. The inning began with Miles Christian singling to the shortstop. He advanced to second on an error by the third baseman during Austin Obenour's at-bat. VWU put runners on first and second on a fielder's choice by Matt Dagostino that saw Christian thrown out on the play at third base. Jacob Pilarski singled to score Obenour from second and Zack Clark followed with a three-run home run that scored Pilarski and Dagostino on the play. 

Bridgewater responded by putting up seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 14-7 lead heading into the final three innings. Neither team scored in the seventh and Bridgewater tacked on one last run in the eighth to defeat the Marlins in game two 15-4. 

VIRGINIA WESLEYAN LEADERS
The Marlins were led by Zack Clark with one run on two hits in four at-bats with three RBI. Jay Crusemire threw five innings during which he gave up seven runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and two walks. Doug Avery gave up three runs in his turn on the mounds followed by Brycen Seymore with four runs on four hits in his short stint on the mound. Zach Lubick threw 1.2 innings during which he struck out two of the five batters he faced while Ryan Mason closed out the game giving up a run on a hit in one inning pitched. 

BRIDGEWATER LEADERS
The Eagles were led by JT Creed with three runs on three hits with two RBI in five at-bats. Kevin Navedo and Luke Paczewski each drove in three RBI apiece while Jarret Biesecker and Jacob Talley each crossed home plate three times. Tucker Garrison (W, 3-0) earned the win throwing six innings during which he gave up four runs on six hits with five strikeouts and a home run against him. Waring Garber (Sv, 1) earned the save after throwing three innings giving up two hits with one strikeout. 

UP NEXT
Virginia Wesleyan returns to action on Tuesday, March 10, when they host their North Carolina cousins from NC Wesleyan. The Battling Bishops and the Marlins will meet at 3 PM at TowneBank Park in their second match-up of the season.