The Virginia Wesleyan baseball team (4-10, 0-7 ODAC) dropped game one 6-4 and game two 9-4 in a doubleheader against Bridgewater College.
Game One:
Clay Clarke led the Marlins as he went 1-for-5 at bat with one run and one RBI; and
John Bastiaans went 1-for-4 at bat with one RBI.
After a scoreless first inning, Bridgewater claimed a 4-0 lead at the top of the second; while at the bottom of the second,
Nick Sylvester and
Josh Goodrich walked and then advanced on a wild pitch; but the Marlins failed to score and left two on base.
The Marlins capitalized at the bottom of the fifth inning as
Noah Burton walked. Next to bat was
Brandon Drewry who singled through the right side, sending Burton to second.
Clay Clarke followed with another single, this time, up the middle, advancing Drewry to third and scoring Burton to put the Marlins on the scoreboard for the first time in the game. Marcell Whitfiled stepped up to bat next and was hit by a pitch, which moved Clarke to second. A sacrifice fly by
John Bastiaans to the right field, scored Drewry to make the score 4-2. Whitfield and Clarke both advanced on a passed ball; and then
Nick Valentin grounded out to third base.
Clay Clarke made it home to put the Marlins one point behind the Eagles at 4-3.
Neither team managed to score over the next two innings, but it was the Marlins who saw opportunities in the bottom of the eighth.
Ty James started the inning with a bunt to second base; and
Joey Leoni came in to pinch run for him.
Gino Meienschein singled down the right field line, advancing Leoni to third. Then, Goodrich grounded out, but Leoni still scored to tie the game at 4-4.
Bridgewater responded with two runs at the top of the ninth to lead 6-4, but the Marlins were unable bridge the gap.
Game Two:
Nathan Bryant led the Marlins as he went 2-for-2 at bat with three RBI.
Gino Meienschein was a key player for VWU; he went 2-for-4 at bat and scored three runs.
Bridgewater raced to a 4-0 lead at the top of the first inning and stretched it to 5-0 at the top of the second. In the top of the third, the Eagles scored three more runs to lead by 8-0. In the top of the fifth, Bridgewater scored their ninth run while keeping the Marlins to zero.
In the bottom of the sixth,
Gino Meienschein doubled down the third base line and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. He went on to score off a single from
Nathan Bryant to put the Marlins on the board.
At the bottom of the eighth,
Joey Leoni walked; then
Gino Meienschein singled through the right side. Both Leoni and Meienschien advanced on the throw to put themselves on third and second respectively.
Nathan Bryant came in clutch for VWU yet again with a single up the middle, which scored both runners to put bring the score to 9-3.
With two outs at the bottom of the ninth,
Gino Meienschein and
Nathan Bryant walked; and then
Keegan Megaro was hit by a pitch, loading all the bases. Then,
Bryce Davenport was hit by a pitch, which advanced all the runners and scored Meienschein to bring the Marlins within five runs of the Eagles at 9-4; but the next batter flied out to center field to conclude the game.
Next, the Marlins will face Hampden-Sydney College on Thursday, March 27 at 3 p.m.
