Posted: Apr 05, 2014
Roanoke moves to 11-12 on the season overall and 4-8 in ODAC play. Virginia Wesleyan boasts records of 11-17 and 5-8 as the season draws ever closer to determining the top-six teams that will make the trip to Lynchburg, Va., for the conference tournament April 24-27.
Holshouser out-dueled VWC lefty Alex Tucci, who also went the distance for the second time this season. Roanoke's righty gave up just four hits and one run while walking a pair. He fanned nine batters, matching his previous season-best as he moved to 1-3 on the year. Tucci scattered seven hits in his eight innings of work, surrendering three runs of which two were earned as the Marlins were charged with four errors. Tucci, now 3-3 on the season, walked four batters and struck out five.
Both starters were again solid in game two as Dylan Stoskus improved to 2-2 with 5.2 innings on the hill for the win. He sprayed around seven hits and issued a pair of free passes, but the righthander recorded three punchouts and was the beneficiary of three double plays. Brooks Kirby worked 1.1 innings of one-hit relief with a pair of strikeouts. Will Hickey picked up his first save by not allowing a hit and fanning a pair in two innings.
For Roanoke, John Ruhlman took the loss and moved to 1-2 on the season after six strong innings. The southpaw gave up two runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Austin Gregory came out of the bullpen to throw the final three frames. He gave up four hits and fanned just as many.
Hitting wasn't necessarily at a premium on this day, but all 11 combined hits in game one were singles. Virginia Wesleyan got on the board first with a run in the second inning. After C.J. Lindsay walked and Taylor Erby singled back up the middle, Ty Boothe sacrificed the duo over to second and third. Clay Walker followed with a sacrifice fly to right to bring in Lindsay for a 1-0 lead.
VWC's advantage was short-lived as RC knotted the score in the bottom-half of the frame. Will Decker led off with a single thru the left side, which was followed by a walk by Collier Donald. Kevin Oakey hit a grounder to short that saw Donald erased on the play, but the Maroons' rightfielder beat out the double play attempt to put runners on the corners. Lucas Nowlin plated Decker one batter later with a sacrifice fly to center to tie contest at 1-all.
Roanoke got a little help getting its second run in the third inning. Devin Cassity led off and reached on an error by the shortstop. Tucci had Cassity picked off as he threw over to first just after RC's speedster took off for second base, but the pickoff attempt failed due to a dropped throw by the first baseman. After Will Black moved Cassity to third with a grounder to first, Jacob Clifton joined him on the basepaths following an error by the second baseman. Cassity came home the next at bat as Decker grounded into a fielder's choice to collect the first of his two RBI on the day.
Holshouser and Tucci kept both teams off the board for the next three-plus innings before Roanoke broke thru with its third run in the seventh inning. Black singled and Clifton walked to open the frame, with Black stealing third to again put runners on both corners. Decker notched his team-leading 26th RBI with a sac fly to center.
There was more hitting in game two, and it was a little louder as VWC smacked a pair of doubles and a homer amongst its nine knocks. The scoreboard remained dormant thru the first three frames, but VWC's Jordan Miller changed that with one swing in the top of the fourth. He turned around a breaking ball and deposited it over the wall in left-center for his first dinger of the year and a 1-0 VWC lead.
The game's second and final run came in the sixth inning. Brett Sutryk and Zach Bach reached via a single and walk to start the inning. RC nearly found its way out of the jam after Miller fouled out to first and Black gunned down Sutryk trying to steal third, but a walk to pinch hitter George Annunziata put Marlins on first and second for the second time in the inning. Boothe followed with a single to center to bring in Bach. Both Annunziata and Boothe moved up 90-feet on the throw home, but Ruhlman stopped any chance of more tallies with a strikeout to end the inning.
The Maroons return to action on Sunday as they make the trip to Ashland for a doubleheader at Randolph-Macon College. First pitch in game one is slated for 1:00 p.m.
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