ASHLAND, Va. – Mitchell Keeler belted a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth after Travis Lodge smacked a three-run homerun two batters prior as the No. 5 Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon rallied past the Methodist baseball team, 7-6, Wednesday afternoon on Hugh Stephens Field at Estes Park.
The Yellow Jackets (21-5-1) trailed 6-2 heading to the ninth. Jeffrey Butler drew a leadoff walk and was advanced to third on a double by Rick Spiers before Lodge sent the ball over the left field fence to pull R-MC within one, 6-5. Nick Maiolo singled to left before Keeler's home run to give the Yellow Jackets the walk-off victory.
Methodist (16-14) was the first to get on the board in the top of the second with an RBI single by
Will May before R-MC evened the score, 1-1, in the bottom of the inning with a single by Michael Kroll.
The Green and Gold pulled away in the top of the fourth, scoring two runs for a 3-1 lead.
Ray Lanners led off with a single to right center and two batters later, was pushed to second on a single by May. A base knock to left by
Nick Zieniuk scored Lanners and after a foul out by
Alex Dockery,
Alex Rodriguez sent an RBI single to center to score May.
The Monarchs tallied their last three runs of the game in the top of the sixth to gain a 6-1 advantage. With one away,
Alex Dockery reached on a fielder's choice as the Yellow Jackets threw pinch-runner
Austin Fuentes out at third. After Dockery stole second, Rodriguez singled to left field to drive him home for give MU a 4-1 lead. The next batter,
Lucas Scott sent a two-run homerun over the right field fence to tally the last of Methodist's runs and push the Monarchs ahead, 6-1.
In the bottom of the sixth, Herminio Azor had a leadoff single, stole second, moved to third on a groundout by junior Stuart Brown and scored on a groundout by Butler to make it 6-2 before the host team rallied in the ninth.
Rodriguez finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and one scored run and May was 3-for-3 with an RBI and scored once. Scott was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored and Lanners was 2-for-5 and crossed the plate once.
Lodge reached base four times, going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks. Azor went 3-for-4 with two runs, while Kroll was 2-for-2 with an RBI.
Closing pitcher
Nick Norton (0-2) was handed the loss after pitching the ninth inning and allowing five runs on four hits with a strikeout.
Greg Johnson pitched the first 5.0 innings and gave up one run on six hits with two strikeouts and
Logan Haines tossed the next 3.0 innings and allowed one run on three hits.
R-MC's Christian Cok worked out of trouble in the top of the ninth to earn the victory, raising his record to 6-0.
The Monarchs will return to conference play as they host Huntingdon College in a three-game series beginning on Friday at 4:00 pm.
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