ASHLAND, VA. –

In the penultimate game on CGA's spring break trip, the Bears fell 8-4 to the hands of Randolph-Macon. The victory improves Randolph-Macon to 6-4 on the season, they will next travel to Mary Washington for a game tomorrow at 3:30 PM.

In the game, Coast Guard led at three different points but were unable to hang on. Early on, the game was tied 1-1 after the squads traded RBI triples, the Yellowjackets in the 1st and Bears in the 4th when Parker Madden(Ruston, LA) tripled in Nathan Stafford(Jupiter, FL). One batter later, CGA would take their first lead of the afternoon when Rick Barkley(Bellevue, WA) hit a sacrifice fly to score Madden. With the score at 3-1 after four, Bears starter Jack Gausselin(Long Beach, IN) exited the game after a very solid outing. The sophomore allowed just one run and three hits in his four innings pitched.

An inning later, Stafford would single in Bears lead-off hitter Wyatt Duthu(Madison, AL) to extend the lead to 3-1. The relentless Yellowjackets however would tie the score at 3-3 in the bottom half of the 5th.

In the 7th inning, Richard Barkley again came up clutch for the Bears with an RBI single to score Carson Cho(Haymarket, VA) and take the lead. But for Coast Guard, the bottom of that 7th inning is when the wheels fell off, allowing five runs for what would ultimately be a 8-4 final score in favor of Randolph-Macon.

For CGA, the story of the loss was the extra chances given to Randolph-Macon. The teams were even on the day in hits with 10 but Coast Guard pitchers walked seven batters, with R-M only walking two. The Bears also made four errors to just one from the Yellowjackets. 

Senior Sean Rojas(San Antonio, TX) was key for the Bears with 1.2 innings pitched in relief, allowing no runs and escaping an inherited jam in the 5th inning to keep the game tied. Later in the game, fellow senior Bode Dykens(Lamoni, IA) was also stellar in relief allowing just one hit and no runs in 1.1 innings pitched to keep Coast Guard within striking distance.

At the plate, four Bears hitters had two hits: Nathan Stafford, Parker Madden, Rick Barkley, and Blake George(Bethlehem, PA), with Barkley leading in RBI with two. 

The loss drops Coast Guard to .500 early on in the season at 3-3. They will cap off their spring break trip tomorrow with a 1:00 PM game at #18 Christopher Newport.