The University of Mary Washington baseball team was defeated 8-7 by Averett University on Wednesday afternoon in Danville, VA. The Eagles slip to 5-5 on the season.
UMW got on the board in the first inning as Kevin France led off with a single. After he advanced on a sacrifice bunt, Christian Hague doubled to left center to bring home France. Averett managed to scored two in the bottom of the first inning on a couple of errors.
The Cougars pushed two more across in the second inning to go up 4-1. The Eagles brought home a run in the third inning as Ramsis Ruiz singled, stole second base, and then scored on a single from David Slupek.
Averett added another run in the fifth inning to extend their lead to 5-2. UMW answered as they scored two runs in the fifth inning. France led off the inning with a hit by pitch, and then Ruiz walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. After a double play, Slupek doubled to left center to bring home France. Mark Smith came through with a base hit to right field and that scored Slupek, as the Eagles were down 5-4.
The Cougars tacked on another run in the fifth inning on a couple of singles. UMW responded with a run of their own as Mason Riser singled, and then France doubled to put runners on second and third. Ruiz singled to third base and brought home Riser to cut the lead to 6-5.
After the seventh inning saw nobody score, UMW took their first lead of the game in the eighth. Christian Colangelo led off the inning with a single, and Jordan Allen came in to pinch run for him. Riser walked and UMW put runners on first and second with zero outs. After an out was recorded, Ruiz singled to right field to load the bases. Slupek came up with two outs and the bases loaded, reaching base on a throwing error that would score both Allen and Riser to give UMW a 7-6 lead.
Averett came back in the eighth inning to score two more runs and take the lead 8-7. UMW didn't get anything going in the ninth as they fell, 8-7.
Ruiz recorded three hits, while France and Slupek both had two hits.
UMW will be back in action on tomorrow as they will face off again against Averett University at 1 p.m.