ASHLAND, VA -- Archrivals Randolph-Macon and Hampden-Sydney split an ODAC doubleheader in Ashland Saturday afternoon in a twin bill that saw a combined eight homeruns in the two games.

R-MC had three homeruns on the day, the biggest coming off the bat of Jordan Walton in the seventh inning of game two. 

With H-SC leading 1-0 in the third inning of the nightcap, Jeb Weymouth connected for a homerun to put R-MC out in front 2-1.

An RBI single by Walton in the fourth made it 3-1 and R-MC capitalized on an error by the H-SC outfield following a hit by Jon Witt to go up 4-1.

H-SC tied the game the next inning when Jordan Wind tripled to score Christian Hamlett and Wind scored on a two-run homer by Jeff Gray.

A Jake Fletcher RBI single in the bottom half of the fifth made it 5-4 R-MC, but the lead was short lived as H-SC scored two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh inning to make it 7-5.

In the R-MC seventh and runners on first and third with two outs,  H-SC brought Aaron Stidham out of the bullpen to face Walton and Walton delivered, hammering his team-leading sixth homerun of the year, giving R-MC an 8-7 lead.

Southpaw Ryan Wood came into the game in the top of the eighth inning and did not allow a hit in two innings of relief to pick up his seventh save of the season.

Kevin Soltis picked up with win for R-MC to even his record at 1-1 on the season, while Stidham suffered the loss, dropping his record to 0-4.

In game one, H-SC  got a homerun by Gray to go up 1-0 before the Yellow Jackets opened the home half of the frame  with three straight hits with Walton driving in Brian Jordan and Fletcher on a double.   A Michael Helbig triple scored Walton and Weymouth, before Tim Benjamin brought in Helbig to make it 5-1.

The Tigers chipped away with single runs in the third and fifth innings.  A Weymouth homerun in the bottom of the fifth made it 6-3, but H-SC responded with a pair of runs on sacrifice flies in the sixth to make it 6-5 and tied the game on an RBI single by Patrick Kuhns in the seventh.

With the score tied a 6-6 and two outs and Wind on second base in the top half of the ninth inning, R-MC had appeared to retire Kuhns on a close play at  first base to end the inning.  The base umpire elected to reverse his call, extending the inning for Hampden-Sydney.

When the teams returned to the field, Kuhns would steal second and he and Wind came home on RBI single by Gray to give the Tigers an 8-6 lead.   Eric Hermann follwed with a single to put two runners on and then Beau Flinchum homered, putting H-SC up 11-6.

Randolph-Macon rallied in its last at bat with Weymouth opening the frame with a single and coming around on another triple by Helbig.  Helbig came home on a sacrifice fly by Benjamin to make it 11-8.

An Andrew Cheatham double and a Tiger error would give R-MC two on with one out, but that Zach Whitaker came in to get the last two outs to preserve the win.

Luke Rabiej came out of the pen to earn the win for H-SC with six innings of relief, improving his record to 1-3 on the season.  Matt Fischgrund (1-2) was saddled the loss for R-MC.

Walton led R-MC on the day, going 5-for-9 with two doubles, a home run, six RBI and three runs scored.  Weymouth had a pair of homers, drove in three and scored four times for the Jackets.

Randolph-Macon will be back in action next Saturday when it travels to Roanoke for a 1:00 p.m. ODAC doubleheader.

-Yellow Jackets-