LYNCHBURG, Va. — The third-seeded Washington and Lee baseball team gave up five runs in the first inning en route to an 8-3 loss to second-seeded and second-ranked Randolph-Macon on Friday at the ODAC Tournament at Lynchburg City Stadium.

The Generals (26-13) scored the first run of the game in the top of the first. Sophomore right fielder Kyle Ruedisili (Jupiter, Fla./The Benjamin School) singled up the middle with one out. After a pickoff throw got away from the first baseman, Ruedisili advanced to second. Senior center fielder Luke Myer (Durham, N.C./Durhman Academy) followed with a single up the middle to give W&L a 1-0 lead.

The Yellow Jackets (30-6-1) responded with five runs in the bottom of the frame. The Generals' starter, junior Anderson Baldy (Tampa, Fla./Berkeley Prep), walked the first two batters and gave up a single to load the bases with no outs. Baldy then walked the next batter to force in a run to tie the game, 1-1.

W&L brought in sophomore reliever David Van Geluwe (Virginia Beach, Va./Frank W. Cox), and he walked the first batter he faced to give R-MC a 2-1 advantage. Senior right fielder Michael Trentham then blew the game open with a three-run double to left to push the margin to 5-1.

The Blue and White got one run back in the top of the second. With runners on first and second, junior catcher Cory Paton (Ashton, Md./St. Johns College) singled down the right field line to bring home sophomore shortstop Austin Crane (Darien, Conn./Fairfield College Prep) and cut the lead to 5-2.

R-MC added three more runs in the fifth and sixth innings with the help of five W&L errors. The Generals scored a run in the seventh on a RBI single by Myer to reach the final margin of 8-3.

Baldy suffered the loss for W&L. He faced four batters without recording an out. He gave up four runs on one hit and three walks to fall to 1-2. Sophomore Rick Spiers earned the victory for the Yellow Jackets to improve to 5-4. He pitched 7.0 innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits.

The ODAC Tournament games on Saturday will start earlier than originally scheduled in order to avoid potential rain later in the day. The Generals will take on top-seeded and ninth-ranked Shenandoah at 9:30 am at Lynchburg City Stadium.

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