Harrisonburg, VA – It was a homecoming for Head Coach Brett Lindsay as the Regent University Baseball team traveled to the mountains for a mid-week doubleheader against his alma-mater Eastern Mennonite University. Lindsay, who is a member of EMU's All-Decade Team, would be facing his former college coach, as the Royals took the field for the first time against their coach's former team.
Game One
Regent struck first when Freshman Jordan Hunt (Virginia Beach, VA) got on base and was driven home after a Junior Jayden Alvarez (Newport News, VA) hit was mishandled by the EMU infielder. EMU answered, though, in their half of the inning with a home run and a grand slam to take the lead 7-1. They added two more in the second inning and suddenly the Royals had an eight-run deficit that whey would have to find a way to get out of. Freshman Nathan Vaughan (Mechanicsville, VA) came to the plate in the next inning and hit his first career collegiate home run to trim the lead, but EMU answered again with another two of their own. Regent continued to try to chip away as Vaughan drove in Junior Ben Tweedy (Altavista, VA) on a fielder's choice and a few innings later Hunt hit an RBI triple to right field, which scored Vaughan and that was eventually followed by a six run final inning. However, they could not complete the comeback and would fall by a final score of 17-10.
Vaughan led the team going 2-5 with a HR, 3 RBI's and 2 runs, while Hunt finished 2-3 with a triple, an RBI and a run. In addition, Tweedy went 2-3 with a double and a run.
Game Two
Hunt hit his second triple of the day to start the first inning and would score the first run of the game after coming home on a wild pitch. Sophomore Maddox German (Fairfax, VA) and Alvarez each got aboard and were driven home by a Freshman Dylan Oblepias (Katy, TX) RBI double and then scored on an RBI double from Junior Ethan Loucks (Montpelier, VA). Freshman Raz Kolakovsky (San Diego, CA) increased the lead with an RBI single, which scored Freshman Colton Sandiford (Seaford, VA) and Loucks and that was followed by a Vaughan RBI single, scoring Sophomore Andrew Knox (Chesapeake, VA) to increase the lead to 7-0. The Royals added three more in the second inning as German scored on a throwing error, Knox drove home Oblepias and then Vaughan singled in Sandiford. EMU was able to tie the score at 10-10 and in the next inning they took the lead for the first time in the game, 13-10. Regent fought back and cut it to one in the final inning, but they were unable to pull any closer and fell by a final score of 13-12.
Oblepias, Loucks, Vaughan and Sandiford each finished with 3 hits, while Oblepias, Vaughan Saniford and Kolakovsky had 2 RBI's a piece. In addition, Sophomore Addison Way (Virginia Beach, VA) came off the bench and delivered a triple.
The Royals will be back in action on Saturday, April 25th when they travel to Lexington for a three-game series with Washington & Lee University. First pitch is at 3:00pm.
