Box Score HARRISONBURG, Va. - Hood College's Josh Gall (Odenton, Md. / Arundel) reached base in all five of his plate appearances, but Eastern Mennonite held off the Blazers 16-12 in non-conference action.
Gall went 3-for-3 with two walks in the game. Tyler Erney (Bethlehem, Pa. / Liberty) had a triple among his two hits and knocked in three runs. John Cartagena (Brookfield, Conn. / Immaculate) went 2-for-5, scored twice, drove in two and stole a base. Dylan Johnson (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) and Michael Hernandez (Lancaster, Pa. / Hempfield) had two hits apiece.
The Blazers trailed 5-2 before a seven-run fourth inning put Hood in front. After Hernandez singled, Nick Meyer (Knowlton, N.J. / North Warren Regional) and Cameron Esposito (Columbia, N.J. / North Warren Regional) walked to load the bases with no one out. Cartagena plated a run with a fielder's choice before a two-run double by Brooks Warrenfeltz (Middletown, Md. / Middletown) tied the game at 5-5. After a Johnson single, Warrenfeltz scored on a wild pitch to put Hood ahead 6-5. Erney smacked a two-run triple to drive in Gall and Johnson, then scored himself on another wild pitch for a 9-5 lead.
Two errors in the Royals' half of the fifth opened the door for a four-run inning to tie the game. Brendon Salladay, Justin Rodriguez and Griffin Stanley all had RBI singles in the inning.
Hood reclaimed the lead, 10-9, on a sacrifice fly by Erney in the top of the sixth, but Justin Rodriguez's two-run triple was the big blow as EMU scored five runs in the bottom of the inning.
Both teams scored twice in the seventh, and after the Blazers batted in the eighth, the game was called due to darkness.
Rodriguez led Eastern Mennonite, going 4-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored. Joe Hall, who also picked up the win in relief, started in right field and also had a four-hit afternoon and stole two bases.
Ryan Atkinson (Hamburg, Pa. / Hamburg) took the loss in relief for Hood and was the third of three pitchers used. Johnson got the start and threw the first four innings. Jackson Slotterback (Arnold, Md. / St. Mary's) followed with 1.1 innings of relief, before giving way to Atkinson, who pitched the final 1.2 innings.
Garry Ormsby got the start for EMU and tossed two scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three. Hood did all of its damage against the Royal bullpen, scoring at least one run off of five different Eastern Mennonite relievers. Hall tossed a scoreless seventh for the win and Ryan Hedrick picked up the save with a perfect eighth.
Hood has a quick turnaround. The Blazers host Gettysburg in the first home game in school history on Thursday, March 19. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
