The Basics
Score: No. 6 Roanoke 11, No. 3 Randolph-Macon 9 (11 inn.)
Records: Roanoke 27-16, Randolph-Macon 26-15
Location: Lynchburg, Va. | City Stadium
The Lead: Roanoke advanced to the final day of the 2017 ODAC Baseball Tournament with an 11-9 win over Randolph-Macon in 11 innings on Sunday. RC will now play at Noon on Monday against Washington and Lee.
The victory marks the first time in the program's brief history that RC has won multiple games in the ODAC Tournament and it will be the first time the Maroons will be playing on the final day.
How it Happened
- Roanoke struck for two runs in the second inning when Sam Watson and Dean Hermanson had back-to-back singles with one out. Scott Ellis doubled to score Watson to make it 1-0. Will Black then plated Hermanson with an RBI groundout to put RC out in front 2-0.
- R-MC scored single runs in the third and fourth innings to tie the game before Sean Guida opened the Roanoke fifth with a triple and scored when Collier Donald followed with a single.
- The Yellow Jackets came back with two runs in their half of the fifth and went ahead 6-3 in the seventh on a Rick Spiers RBI single and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Blake Saathoff.
- Roanoke rallied for five runs in the eighth inning to move in front 8-6. Watson and Hermanson each doubled to open the inning. An Ellis RBI single scored Watson. After Black was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Eli Sumpter singled to score Hermanson then Guida doubled off the first base bag, scoring Ellis and Black. Donald then plated Sumpter with a sacrifice fly.
- In the RC ninth, Hermanson singled to open the inning and moved to second on an Ellis sacrifice bunt. Two batters later, Sumpter laid down a bunt that was thrown away by the R-MC pitcher, allowing Hermanson to score and make it a 9-6 game.
- R-MC rallied in the home-half of the ninth getting a Cole Miglorini double and a Spiers single to open the inning. Jay Patti scored Miglorini with an RBI single and Spiers came home on a groundout. Stuart Brown then singled to score pinch runner Daniel Wilkerson to tie the game at 9-9.
- In the decisive Roanoke 11th inning, Watson led off with a double and moved to third when the hit was misplayed in the R-MC outfield. Two batters later, Ellis tripled to score Watson to put RC in front 10-9. Ellis would score an insurance run on a balk to make it 11-9.
- Sumpter got the win for RC after tossing four innings of relief to improve to 3-0 on the season. Daniel Lachance was the last of nine R-MC pitchers used and took the loss, dropping him to 0-1 on the year.
- Watson, Ellis, Hermanson and Sumpter each had three hits, while Ellis had three RBI. Guida and Donald each had a pair of RBI in the win.
Up Next: The Maroons will play at Noon on Monday against Washington and Lee. Depending on W&L's outcome versus Shenandoah on Sunday night, the Maroons will have to either beat the Generals twice or defeat Washington and Lee at Noon then Shenandoah later in the day to win the ODAC Championship.
