Maroons make their “Mark”
Mark Manthe, the ODAC Player of the Week, hit a walk-off home run to give Roanoke College a big 3-2 win over 11th ranked Alvernia in the first game of a doubleheader at Kiwanis Field on Saturday. The Crusaders took game two, 6-3, to deny the 5-6 Maroons a chance to get over .500 for the first time this season.
In the first game, Alvernia jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. The Maroons did not respond until the fourth inning when Manthe singled and scored off of a fielder’s choice. Roanoke scored again in the fifth as Manthe knocked in Ben Amos, who had doubled.
Salem High graduate Mark Wimmer pitched the Roanoke College baseball team to a big win Saturday when he went the distance and the Maroons beat Alvernia, the 11th ranked team in the country, 3-2.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the seventh when the first two batters popped up and struck out, and the game appeared headed for extra innings. Then, with two outs, Manthe drove a ball deep over the left field wall to give the Maroons an exciting win.
This victory marked the fifth consecutive win for the Maroons, which is the longest winning streak in the history of the baseball program at Roanoke. Manthe went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI’s. Pitcher Mark Wimmer picked up the victory for Roanoke, throwing a complete game and giving up six hits, two runs and striking out six.
The second game remained scorless until the top of the third when Alvernia took a 1-0 lead. In the fourth inning, the Crusaders scored four more runs, highlighted by a two RBI triple. In the bottom of the sixth, Roanoke trailed 6-0 until Nick Sburlati singled up the middle to drive in Manthe from second. In the next at bat, Dalton Lipes singled down the third base line to score Jacob Clifton, but it wasn’t enough to take down Alvernia twice in one day.
The Maroons were scheduled to travel to face Averett in Danville Wednesday. This weekend the Maroons will play three games in Myrtle Beach.
Manthe was named ODAC Baseball Player of the Week. A junior first basemen, he hit .563 (9-for-16) over the past week and provided the Maroons with the program’s biggest victory in the 11-year history of the program. Their record currently stands at 5-6.
