The Virginia Wesleyan Baseball team (17-11, 9-5) beat No. 21 Lynchburg on the road 11-7 in a mid-week conference matchup against the defending national champions.
Leading the Marlins offensively was Micah Fox who went 2-for-3 with three walks, and scored one run, Thomas Crandall was 2-for-5 with a walk, a run, and an RBI, Nick Sylvester was 1-for-4, scored two runs, and tallied two RBI.
The Hornets scored first by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. The Marlins scored the next half-inning to make it a 3-1 game. Junior Nick Sylvester and senior Sam Kasprow led off the top of the second with back-to-back singles. A few batters later, first-year Nate Bryant grounded out which scored Sylvester. The score remained 3-1 until the bottom of the fourth when Lynchburg scored to make it a 4-1 game.
VWU scored nine runs in the sixth inning to take the lead. Crandall singled to start the inning off, and a walk by Senior Micheal Burton Jr. put two runners on with no outs. Fox singled to load the bases for Senior Chris Mitchell Jr. who singled to drive in Crandall. Sylvester got on the virtue of a fielder's choice that scored Burton Jr. One batter later, Kasprow singled which scored Fox. Another single this time by Sophomore Sam Saunders scored Mitchell Jr. to make it a 5-4 game. Another fielder's choice put Sophomore Keegan Megaro on base which scored Sylvester. Crandall batting for the second time in the inning, singled to left field to score Kasprow. Burton Jr. singled to score Saunders to give the Marlins an 8-4 lead. The next batter was Fox who worked a walk that loaded the bases for Mitchell Jr. who also walked and scored Megaro. Then, Sylvester walked which drove in Burton Jr. to put the Marlins up 10-5.
In the bottom of the seventh Lynchburg scored three runs on two hits to make it a 10-7 game.
In the top of the ninth, the Marlins scored another run to make it an 11-7 game. Sophomore Garrett Cockerille reached on a fielder's choice and Sophomore Marcell Whitfield came in to pitch run for Cockerille. Whitfield stole second before stealing third. A fielding error by the Hornets' third baseman scored Whitfield.
The Marlins return home Saturday, April 13th as they host Ferrum in a doubleheader starting at 12:00 p.m.
