Six-run sixth lifts Marlins to win over Albertus Magnus

VIRGINIA BEACH -- On a cold afternoon when pitching could have been chaotic, Virginia Wesleyan College pitchers had everything under control in leading the Marlins to a 9-3 non-conference victory over the Falcons of Albertus Magnus College.

Rookie Brooks Kirby (Warwickshire, United Kingdom/Cobham School) threw in the first seven innings for VWC (7-8), before rookie Reid Hoffler (Chesapeake, Va./Suffolk Nansemond River) entered to close. Both hurlers produced their best efforts of the season to date, to help keep the Falcons (0-1) in check through the final seven innings of the game at Marlins Field.

Kirby (1-1) struck out three batters, walked two and scattered four hits, and Hoffler picked up the save, striking out a season-high five of the seven batters he faced in the final two innings. Albertus Magnus was held hitless from the third through the seventh innings, while VWC found the offense to pull away.

The Marlins trailed 3-0 after three innings, but hit the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth when Steve Jones (Virginia Beach/Lake Taylor)singled to right field to score sophomore Josh Miller (Norfolk, Va./Chesapeake Greenbrier Christian), who singled to right center earlier.

After Kirby dropped the Falcons 1-2-3 in the next two innings, the Marlins pulled away in the bottom of the sixth with the help of four hits.  Rookie Brett Sutryk (Bath, N.Y./Haverling) stroked his first hit of the season, a double down the left field line to score Miller, who walked in front of him.   The inning included back-to-back triples from junior Myles Shipp (Virginia Beach/First Colonial) and Shayne Paskanik (Fredericksburg, Va./Colonial Forge), and a Mike McCutcheon (Chesapeake, Va./Deep Creek) sacrifice to help post the big six-run inning.

VWC added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, which started with a Shipp single up the middle and included an RBI-single from rookie Buddy Lawson (Virginia Beach/First Colonial).

Virginia Wesleyan connected for 11 hits overall, led by Tyler Reed (Petersburg, Va./Matoaca), Jones and Shipp with two hits each.

Albertus Magnus finished with five hits, led by Robert Gambardella (North Haven, Conn./North Haven) with two hits.

The Falcons used four pitchers, starting with Cullen Burnell (Litchfield, Conn./Litchfield), who took the loss.  He faced 29 batters and struck out two, walked five and allowed seven hits and six earned runs. 

Virginia Wesleyan returns to competition on Friday, March 11, hosting Christopher Newport University at 2:30 p.m. at Marlins Field.

--AMDG--