2008 ODAC Baseball Championship Tournament

Day 3 – April 26

Game 7 – Lynchburg 7, Washington and Lee 6 (12 Innings)

LYNCHBURG, VA – Sophomore outfielder David Gaines (Forest, VA/Jefferson Forest) came through with a one-out single up the middle that scored Jon Crews (Lynchburg, VA/Heritage) from second base, as the Lynchburg College baseball team came from behind to eliminate the Generals of Washington & Lee University in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament action from City Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The Hornets (30-10) trailed 5-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, but three runs pulled them to within one run at 5-4. Lynchburg tied the score in the bottom of the eighth on a Matt Winston (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) single that scored Crews. W&L battled back, taking the lead in the top of the ninth inning to go up 6-5, but LC knotted the score in their last at-bats of regulation thanks to a Crews sacrifice fly to right.

The Lynchburg bullpen held the potent General offense scoreless over the three extra frames, helping to set up the aforementioned heroics by Gaines. Cameron Grant (Lynchburg, VA/Heritage) was 2-5 with two knocked in, while Winston and Gaines eached finished with two hits, a run scored and a RBI.

 Spencer Garrett (Williamsburg, VA/Bruton) was solid in relief, as was Jared Millner (Forest, VA/Jefferson Forest) and Jon Nichols (Stafford, VA/North Stafford). Garrett tossed three scoreless innings in relief, scattering four hits, with Millner going two and a third innings, surrendering three hits. Nichols got the win on the bump for LC, allowing noone to reach in his one and third of action.

Five General players finished with two hits on the afternoon, highlighted by Jim Plantholt’s 2-5 with three RBI and a run scored.

LC will now battle Randolph-Macon College tonight at 7 p.m. in game nine of the ODAC Tournament. The winner of that contest moves into the championship game at 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

-Courtesy of Lynchburg-

Game 8 – Va. Wesleyan 5, Bridgewater 3

LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Rookie Gary Bulman struck out eight batters and scattered five hits Saturday en route to improving to a program record 8-0 on the mound as Virginia Wesleyan College's baseball Marlins ousted Bridgewater College's Eagles from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship tournament with a 5-3 decision at City Stadium.

The Marlins, now 26-13-1 overall, advanced to Sunday's 1 p.m. game against the loser of a later game being played today between Lynchburg College and Randolph-Macon College. Bridgewater was ousted from the tournament with a 24-17-1 record.

Bulman (Chesapeake, Va./Greenbrier Christian) pitched the distance, striking out his third highest total of batters this season.  Backed by an alert defense, Bulman retired the final 15 batters of the game in order.  His current 8-0 record ties the program record set by in 2007 by Chris Rivera, who is now part of the Chicago Cubs organization.  The undefeated record also sets a rookie record for VWC.

Virginia Wesleyan started strong, bolting out to a 5-1 lead in the first two innings.  Bridgewater scored first however, helped by two hits in the top of the first inning.  But, VWC came back after two outs in the bottom of the inning.  Junior C.J. Rhodes (Williamsburg, Va./Lafayette) started it all when he reached base on an error and moved to second on a single by junior Hilton Ianniciello (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East).  Junior Kevin Nally (Moore, Okla./Forest Park, Va.) followed with the Marlins' first big blast of the game, a two-run double to left center field.  Junior Adam Marx (Rochester, N.Y./Fairport) followed with another blast, a triple to right center to score Nally to give VWC a 3-1 lead.

Bridgewater threatened in the top of the second with two outs when bases loaded via a Chad Rhodes double, a walk and a hit batsmen.  But, it all ended with a fly out to right.

The Marlins followed that by adding two runs to their score, despite a rain delay in the inning of a little more than 90 minutes.  Rookie Max Axelrod (Chesapeake, Va./Greenbrier Christian) and senior Brian Schweers (Perryville, Md./Perryville) both singled and advanced a base each on a wild pitch.  That opened first base for senior Ozz Dhramapitaksook (Springfield, Va./Lake Braddock), who took the bag with a walk to load things before the rains came.

Once the rain stopped, Rhodes hit into a fielder's choice that took out Axelrod at home plate.  But, the Marlins tallied a run when Ianniciello patiently waited out a walk that  moved all the runners.  VWC scored the second run when Nally boarded base following a fielding error by the pitcher.  A strikeout gave the Eagles a third out to end the scoring, with bases loaded.

Bridgewater averted the shutout in the top of the fourth with two runs, helped in by a double and a single. That was it for the Eagles however, as the Marlins cut Bridgewater's fifth short with a double play from junior Brandon Hathaway (Williamsburg, Va./Jamestown), to junior Phil Cadle (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge) at second base, to Marx at first.  That was the first of five consecutive 1-2-3 innings for the Eagles.

Ianniciello and Cadle connected for two hits each in an eight-hit Marlin offense.  Five different batters had a hit each for Bridgewater.

Casey Hartman took the pitching loss for Bridgewater, dropping to 2-2.  He faced 11 batters before being relieved by Alex Foltz.  Foltz pitched in 6.2 innings, struck out eight batters, and gave up two walks and three hits.

-Courtesy of Virginia Wesleyan-

Game 9 – Randolph-Macon 15, Lynchburg 7

LYNCHBURG, VA – Randolph-Macon College erased a two-run deficit with seven runs in the seventh inning, and added five more in the eighth inning for good measure as the Hornets of Lynchburg College were eliminated from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) baseball tournament early Sunday morning with a score of 15-7.

The Hornets (30-11) took an early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first, highlighted by a RBI triple by senior Ronnie LaBrie (Vinton, VA/Staunton River). The Yellow Jackets knotted the score at two in the top of the third inning with a pair of runs, but were quickly answered by a single score by LC.

After R-MC again evened the score at three, LC broke through to take a 5-3 lead going into the seventh. Randolph-Macon sent 12 batters to the plate in the top of the seventh, scoring seven runs, three of them unearned, to go up 10-5. After the Hornets scored a single run in the bottom half to cut the lead to four, the Jackets jumped on a depleted LC bullpen for five more runs to put the game out of reach.

LC was paced by Kyle Bradley (Brookneal, VA/William Campbell), who was 3-4 with two runs and a RBI. Rookie Chris Colquhoun (Virginia Beach, VA/Salem) was 3-4 as well, while Jeff Taylor (Lynchburg,VA/Heritage) and Jon Crews (Lynchburg, VA/Heritage) each finished with two hits apiece.

Randolph-Macon College (24-15) was sparked by Greg Meleski’s 4-5 evening. Micheal Wallace was 3-4 with four RBI, while Jeff Beck was 3-6 with three knocked in a homer in the seventh inning.

-Courtesy of Lynchburg-